Validians
by dandy9
Summary: Maddy gets mixed in on a mission to rescue a mysterious boy's little brother. On the journey with the mysterious boy, she realizes that she has a unique gift and joined with others who have similar gifts, she chooses to use it against the forces of evil.
1. Prologue

**Hi Everybody! I've had this story up before but nobody reviews it :( I'm getting a bit depressed here. So here's the prologue, it's really short, just read through and press the button on the bottom. CLICK, review please.**

Prologue

"Please," The man begged again. "We need your help."

"We can take care of ourselves. We want no part of this," said the older brother coldly. "Come on Josh, let's go."

The young boy looked up at his brother's face.

_It's for the better_, the older boy thought.  
The young boy took his brother's hand and together they left the old building, leaving behind a very unhappy and worried group of adults.


	2. Chapter 1

**Here's Chapter 1. Enjoy! And don't forget to review, please.**

The first time I saw them, I was standing in an alley of a city. It was dark and there was no one in sight. There were windows and doors on the side buildings and garbage cans lined the walls. Then these two boys came racing down the street. They were being pursued by three men in long, dark coats. The boys flew past me as I stood as a motionless bystander. The elder one kept glancing over his shoulder, looking back at the three men. Garbage cans toppled over behind the boys, although no one was touching them, and the pursuers had trouble meandering through all the spilled trash. But the men were not slowed down much by the garbage. I looked down the alley and saw the two boys stop and turn around. I wanted to scream at them, "Don't give up! Keep running you idiots!" but I couldn't because at that moment everything went black, and I woke up to a sunny day in Paliston, California. It was all just a dream. But I knew that was no ordinary dream.

That was a week ago.

I saw them again while I was walking to school one day. The orange leaves blew across the cracked sidewalk in the autumn breeze. My eyes followed them and fell upon the forest where I saw the same two boys coming out of an old abandoned house. My mouth fell open as I tried to get a better view of them. Both with curly, golden blond hair, one looked about fifteen, while the other seemed fairly young, about six or seven.

The little boy glared intently into my eyes as I stood there motionless. I stared back at the boy until a few seconds later when my view of them was suddenly obstructed by a colorful branch of the tree.

I shook my head, trying to clear it and continued walking. There was nothing wrong with two boys in the crumbling house on a Tuesday morning, I thought to myself. But is there anything wrong with the two boys being the exact same ones in my dream?

I've had those type of dreams before, very rarely though. In one, I was caught in a snow storm, searching for my parents. The next week, we had a freak blizzard.

"Hey Maddy! Wait up!"

I turned around and saw Joanna Barnes, my best friend, running up the sidewalk.

"Hey Jojo, ready for that English test?" I asked her, punching her in the arm jokingly. Joanna was always ready for any test. Just give her a twelve second warning of when the test will be and no doubt she'll ace it... unlike me.

"The real question is, are you ready for the test?" she turned and grinned at me.

"More or less," I replied.

"'More or less' like that test where you nearly failed?"

"Hey! Shut up! At least I passed."

* * *

"Good morning class. Test today!"

A low moan spread through the sophomore class.

"You know the drill. Clear your desk, take out a pencil, and absolutely no talking." The teacher, Mrs. Talm, glared at the corner of the room where two boys grinned mischievously.

I received the test, glanced at Joanna, who was already scribbling away with that test-taking, green pencil of hers, and then sighed. _This is going to be a long day_, I thought as I looked down at the test, reading the first question: _Describe the character of Drummle. Be sure to reference at least three events in which this character appeared in._

I was half way through the test when the classroom door opened and a boy stepped through.

My head jerked up to look at him, just as everyone else had done, except for Joanna who was still bent over her paper not caring at all even if that kid turned out to be the President's son.

The boy's eyes found mine and for a few seconds he stared at me. Then he walked over to give Mrs. Talm a note and sat in an empty seat in the back.

He was a good looking kid, dressed in a faded green t-shirt and jeans. His hair was golden blond and slightly curled.

It was at that moment when something in my dull head clicked. He was the one by the house with that other small boy. He was the one in my dream.

I read the next question that was on my already-failed test paper. _In what way was Miss Havisham involved in Pip coming to good fortune?_

_Miss Havisham, who was she again?_ I thought. I couldn't focus on the test anymore. For some odd reason, I was just curious about those two boys who were none of my business. _Nothing wrong with being in an old house_, I told myself again. But I knew there was more to it.

* * *

At the end of that dreadful test, I decided that I could honestly care less about Charles Dickens and his oh-so-great novel.

The bell rang and I hurried out of that stressful classroom. In my head, I debated whether or not I should show the new kid around the school. After about thirty seconds of arguing with myself, I decided, nah, that only happens in movies, right? Besides, this won't be a happily ever after movie when I get grounded for failing my test.

The rest of the day past without much event. I went from English to Math to Gym to Science, so on and so forth. The only other class I had with the boy, who's name I discovered was Sean, was Social Studies. He sat directly behind me in the only previously empty seat.

We were learning about the government and its three branches, balance of powers, and all that other boring stuff.

"The judicial branch is part of what makes our country so great," Mr. Malone, the teacher stated. "Our honorable court system keeps the people fair and just."

"Fair?" I heard the word disgracefully muttered behind me. It was spoken so quietly, I wasn't even sure that I heard it. But I knew I had the second I turned around and saw Sean's eyes staring coldly up at Mr. Malone.

"The laws of our land are interpreted by this branch of government and makes sure that they reason with the Constitution. Something is said to be unconstitutional when it does not agree with the Constitution."

_Really? No duh._ I thought.

"Okay class, homework is read pages 332 through 340 and answer questions one through eight on page 340. It's due tomorrow. And don't forget-

"Brrrrrrring!" The end of day bell rang.

"-your essay is due Monday." Mr. Malone said over the noise of the end of school chatter.

"Hey, Emma!" I called, trying to push through the crowd in the hallway to my friend.

"Maddy, hi," she said. "Are you coming over to my house today like we talked about?"

"Yeah, about that. I can't come over right after school, I have to babysit. But I can come anytime after four. My mom's out though, so I'll have to walk."

Emma frowned slightly, "That's alright. It takes you about what, ten minutes to walk to my house?"

"About," I replied.

"Alright then, see you at four ten." Emma waved and walked away while I started walking home.

**REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!**


	3. Chapter 2

**R & R please**

Instead of going home, I went straight to the Keltine house, where I would babysit seven year old Katie.

"Ding-dong," I rang the doorbell of the ginormous house.

"Maddy!" A little girl with honey colored hair in pigtails ran at me and hugged me.

"Hi Katie."

"Oh good, Maddy, you're early. The phone numbers are on the fridge, like usual. I'll be back at four." Mrs. Nancy Keltine said, while inviting me in and walking out the door.

"So Kate, what have you been up to?" I asked her.

"Coloring," she stated simply.

"Can I color too?"

"Sure!" her blue eyes beamed up at me as we walked into the kitchen.

There were millions of Crayola crayons on the table, scattered everywhere. Every color from Robin Egg Blue to Carnation Pink.

I grabbed a sheet of clean white paper and made some room for myself to color on the table.

Katie started to draw and was humming to herself. I grabbed a color at random called Atomic Tangerine and started drawing a flower.

"There's a new boy in my class," Katie said, still coloring.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Cody. He sits in the desk across from me. He's seems nice, but a bit weird."

I could only imagine the type of weird things seven year old boys would do. From destroying block towers like they were Godzilla or drowning ants just because they felt like it. Not to mention the whole "cootie" thing that goes around between little kids. But what Katie said next was definitely not what I was expecting.

"He's shy and sometimes he makes these weird faces for no reason. Like during Reading Time, I was reading this book about a princess and a prince getting married, I looked up at him and all of a sudden he made this sad face."

"Well, maybe he was reading a sad book," I said logically.

"Maddy, he wasn't even reading a book," Katie said in a "duh, obviously" voice. "Also," she continued, "He's a bit jumpy. He gets scared when someone opens the door."

"Aww, poor kid."

"Like I said, he's weird. Also, he has a small eye on his neck."

"An eye?" _An eye!!!_

"He said it's a birthmark. It's kind of creepy though. He said he doesn't like it."

"Kate," I said, "why don't you try and make friends with him."

"With a boy? A boy with three eyes?" she looked at me incredulously.

"Yes, with a boy, there not that bad." _Well_, I thought, _maybe not the ones in her grade_, remembering those monkeys who called themselves boys in my grade. "And forget about that birthmark."

"I don't know," she said in a small voice.

"Come on. How about we make cookies?" I said trying to change the subject.

"Definitely!" Katie grinned.

**Thanks**


	4. Chapter 3

**Here's another one, Chapter 3.  
Don't forget to click on the button down below!**

Two hours, 5 colorful drawings, and thirty-three minus two cookies later, I was on my way to Emma's house. With my backpack slung over my back, for I haven't gotten home yet, I chewed a granola bar and walked past the park.

It was there that I saw him. Not the older one, Sean, but the younger one. He was sitting on a bench in the park and stood up when he saw me. I stopped walking and looked at him. With his blond hair matted down and his chocolate brown eyes filled with curiosity, he walked over to me.

"Hi. I'm Cody."

_Cody like from Katie's class? The one with the eye birthmark? The one who makes weird faces and is jumpy? The one who is shy? Well, he certainly isn't shy now._

I took a good look at him. He was wearing an old blue t-shirt, jeans, and a light, half-zipped up jacket. He was small and thin. I leaned a bit closer to him and saw on his neck by his collarbone was the eye that Katie was so creeped out about. It was a bit faded and blurry, which made it seem more like a birthmark compared to the tattoo of an eye I had envisioned in my head while talking with Katie.

Cody shifted uncomfortably and then zipped up his jacket all the way up to the collar. The birthmark was now hidden.

I moved my gaze back to his face, "I'm Maddy."

"I know."

_He knew? Meaning what? I had a name tag stuck to my forehead that said, "Hi I'm Maddy, the idiot who just failed her English test, and babysat for little Katie"?_

"It's not like that." Cody said hurriedly, "Uhhh, Sean must have mentioned you to me. You know Sean, right?"

"I... not exactly, no."

"He's in your English and Social Studies classes."

"Uh huh," I said, not sure of what else to say.

"Katie doesn't like me," Cody said quietly.

"Who?" I was completely thrown by the change of subject.

"You know, Katie," he repeated.

I did know Katie. But the question was, how did he know that I knew who Katie was.

"Katie's a nice girl. Why don't you try and be friends with her. She can't hate you," I said.

"You tell that to everyone, don't you?" His brown eyes pierced mine, as if he was challenging me.

Yes, that's exactly what I said to Katie, I thought. But what I told him was, "no."

"Do your parents know you're here by yourself?" I asked the little boy. It suddenly crossed my mind that this seven year old was alone in a deserted park, except for me.

"Nope," he said, looking down at his shoes.

"Do you want to call them? I have a cell phone you could use. Your parents must be worried sick if they don't know where you are."

Cody looked up at me again, "My brother knows I'm here." And he turned his head, looking at Sean, who was walking toward us carrying a bag.

"Cody," he called, when he was five feet away from us. Sean gazed at his brother and Cody stared right back, looking him in the eyes.

"I didn't," Cody said defensively to his older brother, but all the while he sounded innocent .

Didn't what? I thought, though it was none of my business.

Sean turned and looked at me. Up close, I saw a deep sense of concern in his hazel eyes. "Thanks," he said. Then he put his hand on his brother's shoulder, turned and began to walk away.

But they got no farther than four steps when Cody unhooked himself from his older brother's grasp and faced me.

"You don't have to be suspicious, you can trust us. We're the good guys. My brother and I, we can take care of ourselves," he said to me.

**Ooooh, Now your interested, right?**


	5. Chapter 4

**Another chapter. Yay. Read and Review, please.**

_We're the good guys._ Cody's words echoed in my head as I walked toward my English classroom the next day. _You don't have to be suspicious, you can trust us._ I saw Sean leaning against the wall across from the classroom, looking at me.

"Brrrrrring!" The bell rang and the hallway quickly emptied.

_Great, I failed a test and I'm late to class the next day. If Mrs. Talm didn't like me before, she certainly hates me now,_ I thought miserably.

"What?" I asked Sean accusingly as he was still looking at me. "I have to get to class- and so do you." I added as an afterthought.

"Wait," he said.

I ignored him. I was two steps away from the open door of the English classroom when it swung shut, seemingly on its own accord. I turned the knob. The door wouldn't open. _Perfect, _I thought sarcastically. I raised my right hand to knock, when Sean grabbed it in his own.

"Just listen to me for a minute, okay."

I turned around and looked at him. And that was when I saw something I should of seen before. On his neck exactly where Cody had an eye, was a ten pointed star. It was very sharp and distinct, unlike Cody's birthmark which was a little blurry.

"Your neck," I said, still staring at his star. "Cody has a birthmark there too."

His hand flew to his neck and covered the ten pointed star. "That's nothing," he said hastily. "Listen, about the other night-"

"You've got only a minute," I interrupted , "then I have to get to class, even if I have to knock down that door."

He grinned and let go of my hand. "That'd be a sight to see. But you won't have to, don't worry."

It was the first time I ever saw him smile.

"About the other night," Sean continued, "Thanks for watching my little brother, but it'd be best if you forgot all about it. Don't get caught up in all our troubles. Just forget about last night. Please." he pleaded.

"Tell me one thing, though. What did Cody mean when he said, 'We're the good guys.'"

"Just don't involve yourself." Sean's gaze shifted to the closed door of the English room across the hallway. The door slowly swung open.

"Let's get to class," he said. "And thanks for understanding."

Sean turned his back toward me and walked through the doorway.

But, I don't understand a thing. I wanted to tell him. I wanted to scream it at him. But I didn't, I just followed him through the now open door, ready to face the wrath of Mrs. Talm.

* * *

A bold, red 62% stared me in the face. _Well, that's no surprise,_ I thought glumly. I took a quick peek at Joanna's paper. Hers read 98%. I wonder how Mrs. Talm found two points to take off on her paper.

I soon forgot about my test grade and for the rest of the day as I tried to seek out Sean or catch his eye. But he ignored me and wouldn't even so much as look in my direction.

"Sean!" I shouted his name angrily. He was talking with a bunch of sophomore basketball players just outside the school. He glanced at me and then stalked off saying, "Catch you later," to his newly made friends.

"Hey Sean!" I shouted again as I broke into a run. I caught up with him and stood in his way.

He stopped abruptly and looked me in the eye.

"Listen Maddy," his tone angry, frustrated. "Please, please, just leave me and my brother alone. It's for your own good."

"What's your problem? How come you can talk to those guys back there," I said pointing back at the school, "but not to me? What makes me so different? I'm a girl?" I practically screamed the last question at him.

But instead of raising his voice, he replied real quietly, "You know too much." He pushed past me and took a step forward. Then he turned around and put a hand on my shoulder, "You're more different than you think." He turned and walked away, this time not turning back.


	6. Chapter 5

**Do me a favor and R&R please.**

"Maddy! Wake up! It's almost seven fifteen"

Ugh, another school day. Math test today.

I climbed out of bed and yawned. I couldn't sleep last night. My thoughts kept wandering to Sean and his kid brother.

I walked over to my dresser and dug through my shirt drawer, looking for something to wear. Something purple caught my eye, and I pulled out a long sleeve lavender shirt. The shirt I received for my fourteenth birthday, but refused to wear. The collar of the shirt was wide and it displayed my ugly birthmark on my collarbone that looked like a bruise. I was too embarrassed to wear it a year ago. I pulled the shirt over my head and slipped on a pair of khaki pants.

"Maddy! Hurry up"

"Coming!" I shouted down the stairs to my impatient mom.

I quickly brushed my light brown hair and looked in the mirror at my 5 foot 5 body. With my hair down, it covers the bruise-birthmark.

I ran down the stairs into the kitchen and grabbed an on-the-go cereal bar.

"Oh, honey, that's an adorable shirt. You look great." My mom glanced up from the newspaper, her blue eyes meeting my green ones. She was sitting in the kitchen, her brown hair falling over her shoulders.

"Thanks, Mom." I can't believe I hadn't worn this shirt because of my stupid concerns about my looks. I gave my mom a kiss on the cheek, swung my backpack over my shoulder, and was out the door.

I half jogged, half walked down the sidewalk to school.

I slowed down when I passed the old house where I saw Sean and Cody. No one was there. I stalled for a few minutes, hoping to catch them on there way to school, but there was no movement in the woods beside a squirrel or two bustling about. You know too much, Sean had said. But what did I know? 1. They were brothers. 2. They had funny birthmarks. 3. Their names were Sean and Cody. 4. They're new students. and lastly, 5. Sean did not like me. But there was nothing odd with these five facts.

Disappointed, I left and continued jogging my way to the high school.

Sean ignored me just like the other day and I saw no sign of Cody. This went on for days and I tried just to forget about it, but almost helplessly, I couldn't.

**I'm open to any suggestions about how to say the last sentence.**


	7. Chapter 6

**I got one word for you... Review!**

"Mmmmm, smells good," I said, walking in the front door. The scent of freshly baked bread filled my lungs.

"Oh good, you're just in time for dinner," my mom said, sticking her head out the kitchen doorway.

I dropped my bag off on the living room couch and entered the kitchen. The table was set and my dad was already sitting down at the head of the table while my mom was serving the soup.

"Hi Maddy," he said to me, "How did swimming tryouts go?"

"Alright," I replied. "There were a few good freshmen who showed up today. I think we'll have a decent team this year. Also, Molly Taylor, the junior who was swam the butterfly last year..." I trailed off, wondering if my parents paid any attention to my swimming life last year.

"She's the brunette with the glasses, right?" My dad asked.

"Yeah. Well, she didn't show up for tryouts today. Jojo said that she was grounded and wasn't able to join the swim team this year. I don't know exactly what she did, but there's a rumor going around that Molly's planning to run away to her aunt's place in New Mexico."

"That's terrible."

"I doubt it's true though. I mean every rumor in Paliston High is almost guaranteed to started off by Olympia and her little horde of friends."

"Speaking of which," my mom added, "on the news yesterday, they reported that there are two brothers who ran away from Nevada. Seven thousand dollars are being offered as a reward for the missing boys. The investigators think that they traveled all the way by us, into California. They're parents are worried sick, going crazy even, not knowing where their boys are. They said that the easiest way to recognize them is by their unique birthmarks on their collarbones."

"Wait, what?" I asked her, still thinking about Molly. "Birthmarks on their collarbones?"

"The both boys have blond hair. Ones about your age, I think, Maddy. The other is 7. If I recall correctly, their names are Austin and John, or was it Josh? Yes, I think it was Josh. Anyways, their parents are desperate, using thousands of dollars to try and locate them. That's the main reason the story is so big."

"No, Mom, what did you say about birthmarks?"

"They have odd birthmarks on the bottom of their necks," she repeated, looking at me curiously.

My mind went into overdrive as I sat down and began to eat my soup and bread.

Birthmarks on their necks. Unique birthmarks. Blond hair. Two brothers. One my age the other young. Then it hit me, Austin and Josh she had said. Not Sean and Cody. I was overreacting. Austin and Josh, I repeated in my head, Austin and Josh.


	8. Chapter 7

**Sorry it's short! Review.**

A young, blond haired boy had his backpack flung over his shoulder as he was making his way to the old house. It's Cody, I thought, curiously. I followed him as he stepped off the sidewalk and entered the forest. That's when it happened. Three teenagers appeared out of nowhere right before my eyes. Two boys and one girl. The Cody gasped. I screamed.

"Hello, Joshua," one of the teenage boys, short with dark hair said, cruelly to Cody.

"What do you want?" the young boy trembled.

"We could do this the easy way or the hard way," the girl said.

"Get away from him," I shouted at the mysterious teens.

But they ignored me, didn't so much as even glance at me, and charged at the Cody, who was slowly backing away. The boy hit the ground as he was punched in the head by the taller of the teenage boys.

"Let's go," the girl laughed mercilessly.

Then she grabbed hands with her tall accomplice, as the other boy did the same. And the tall teen bent down, picked up the small boy, and all four of them disappeared into thin air.

"Hey!" I shouted into the empty forest. "Hey"

Everything went dark, and I woke up in my sweaty pajamas. I don't know why, but something in my gut told me I had to tell Sean.


	9. Chapter 8

**Now this is where it gets exiting.  
**

Throughout the school day, I couldn't bring myself to face Sean. Three times I saw him and began walking towards him, but I never actually got within five feet of him. It was just a dream. Besides, it might not even pertain to him. I mean, he has a little brother named Cody, not Joshua. It was just a dream, I tried to reassure myself again. And once again, I was unsuccessful.

The end of the day was the when I finally built up the courage to confront Sean. The last bell rang and I dashed out of Math class, racing to Sean's locker at the other end of the school.

"Excuse me, excuse me. Oh sorry," I said, to the poor students who I had rudely shoved while running to Sean.

Remembering our last conversation, I decided not to shout his name and have him dart away.

I reached him at his locker. He was putting some books away into the small, green locker when I reached out and grabbed his shoulder.  
The second I touched him, he spun around and grabbed my wrist.

"Geez," I said, surprised by his sudden grab of my wrist. "What's your problem?" "Maddy," he said, looking at me curiously, "Sorry, didn't realize it was you."

_That's a bit of a lame excuse for harassing people who just want to talk with you,_ I thought.

"Sean," I began, "There's something I think you should know."

He turned away from me and continued put away his books.

"I know this is really, really, weird, but I thought you should know that," I paused, waiting to see if he would at least acknowledge that I was still talking to him; he didn't. "Well, last night, I... I... had an odd dream."

At that, his head jerked in my direction. "And?" was all he said, suddenly interested.

"Um, well, there was a boy, who, um, looked like your brother... you know, Cody."

He stared at me and I felt stupid. _Duh. Of course he knew who his brother was. It's not like he needed me to remind him._

I felt my face flush from embarrassment, but managed to continue. "Well, there were these kids, with him. Calling him Joshua, and then..." but I never finished explaining my dream to him for at that moment, he shoved me out of his way and began running down the hall.

"Hey! Sean!" I called after him. That went well, I thought bitterly. I shut his locker for him and ran after him.

"Wait up!" I panted, a few steps behind him. I followed him all the way down the sidewalk and into the woods.

* * *

Sean was too fast for me. He bolted through the woods, weaving through trees like they weren't even there. I was about ten yards behind him when he stopped. I caught up to him and looked at the old house that stood, or partly stood, right in front of us.

The white paint was peeling off the walls and the glass of the windows were cracked. The door was open.

Slowly, Sean walked in. "Wait here," he said without even turning around. Somehow he knew I had followed him. _Probably because of all that noise I created with my heavy footed, clumsiness while running through the woods,_ I thought.

But I couldn't just sit there and wait. I followed him.

The inside of the house was in as bad of a condition as the outside. There was an old wooden table in the center of the room, with two chairs. Two other chairs were lying on the ground, smashed to pieces. There were cracks running up and down the molding walls and the wooden floor boards were, in most places, nonexistent.

"Josh," Sean whispered concernedly, as he dashed up the rickety stairs.

I looked at the crumbling stairs, debating whether or not I should chance climbing them for fear they would shatter below me. But seeing as Sean was already halfway up, I ran up the staircase after him. _If these stairs collapse under me, I swear I'm gonna kill him._

"Josh?" I asked Sean, confused. "Who in the world is Josh?" Then I remembered my dream. _Hello Joshua,_ one of the boys had said.

"My brother," Austin said curtly. Then he called out into the room, "Josh?" "Josh?" I called out into the dark room.

Suddenly a fist came out of nowhere and punched me hard in the stomach. I doubled over and grabbed the end of the wall for support. I heard a sickening thud and through my squinted eyes, I saw Sean hit the floor.

The room flooded with light, revealing two kids, a boy and a girl who were no older than myself. And behind them stood a little, blond, seven year old boy. Cody. Or rather, Josh. I thought.

"What do you want?" Sean asked, spitting out blood and picking himself off the floor.

"You sound just like your brother here," the boy said, smiling. "And you, as well as him, know perfectly well what we want"

"Who's this?" the girl said, nodding at me. "You brought a human with you."

"We're all human, Ava. Even you. Now let Josh go and we can all just leave. Pretend nothing had ever happened. No one gets hurt."

"Yeah right," the girl, Ava, said sarcastically. "Like I'd just let you waltz out of here with your kid brother. Now, let me propose something to you, Austin. You come with James, me, and little Josh here, and no one will die."

"In your dreams."

It took me a moment to figure out that Ava was talking to Sean. Whose real name, I now realized, was Austin. Austin and Josh, I thought to myself.

Austin glared at Ava and then shifted his eyes toward his brother.

I took a good look at the little, blond kid too.

He seemed, for the most part, unharmed. His clothes were covered with dirt and mud, and his hands were bound behind his back.  
"Aust," Josh said, looking at Austin helplessly. "Help... please."

"That is not my brother," Austin said coldly, still staring at Josh. He turned and looked at Ava. "Where is he?" he demanded. "What have you done with him?"

"Sean," I began, then remembered, "Austin. What are you talking about? He's ri-"

He cut me off, "Just stay out of this Maddy. Go home."

Then, right before my eyes, Josh started changing, morphing. His blond, curly hair turned dark. He grew tall and his eyes were no longer brown, but blue. His clothes changed as well. There, in Josh's place, stood a tall, dark haired boy in a black t-shirt and jeans. The same boy who was in my dream, I realized.

I blinked, once, twice, three times. He was still there.

"Riley," Austin spat the name.

"Osiris was right. You are clever," Riley said, smiling. "That's just another reason we need you."

"Where is Joshua?" Austin angrily asked.

"I guess we go to plan B then," James stated to the other two.

"What about the girl?" Riley asked.

"Kill her," Ava said darkly.

_What!! This can't be real. Can. Not. Be. Real._ I panicked inside my head because I knew I couldn't deny the truth. This wasn't a dream; it was real.

The three teenagers started walking toward Austin and me, staring intensely at us.

"Last chance," Ava said, tauntingly.

"Never." Austin stepped in front of me, shielding me. Ava raised her hands, palms out, and a blast of red, hot fire came shooting out of her hands.

_Holy Smokes!_ Literally.

There was an earsplitting scream, and I realized it was mine as Austin shoved me to the side. I fell to the floor on my back and watched Ava's fire hit the wall where Austin and I were just standing.

Austin was now a few feet to the right of me. His eyes burned with intensity as he looked around the room frantically, searching for something. They landed on an old, wooden bed. With a flick of his head, the bed came crashing across the room, heading right toward Riley.

In an instant, Ava lifted her right hand and the bed burst into flame, disintegrating before it was even halfway across the room.  
All of a sudden, my view of Austin and Ava was obstructed by a tall figure looming over me; James.

I looked up at him, and saw his foot coming straight for my face. I shut my eyes and covered my head with my arms.  
But the blow never came; his foot never came in contact with my head. Instead, there was a loud crash, followed by a dull thump.

I slowly uncovered my face and opened my eyes.

Five feet away from me, I saw James lieing unmoving on the wooden floor with his eyes shut. Right next to him, I saw a broken table lamp.

My eyes jumped back to where Austin, Ava, and Riley were. Pieces of wood kept flying across the room, meeting blasts of fire, and bursting into flames.

"Riley! The girl!" Ava screamed to her accomplice.

Riley took a quick glance at James on the floor and began walking to me with long strides, smiling darkly.

I coughed as I struggled to rise to my feet; smoke was rapidly filling the air, making it hard to see as well as breathe.

"Maddy!" Austin called, with his eyes still fixed on Ava and her fireballs. "Grab onto the door."

_The door! What?_ But I didn't question him. I reached up blindly for the doorknob of a closet that I knew was behind me. It didn't take me long to locate it, and when I did, I wrapped my fingers around it and held on tight.

With Riley still advancing toward me, I glanced at Austin, who was still in an intense battle of flying objects and fire with Ava. He took his eyes off the girl for a moment and looked at me. Our eyes locked, and then I felt the floor beneath me tremble.

Austin looked back at Ava, who stopped shooting fire. "No," she said, glaring at him.

With a flick of his wrist, the portion of the floor beneath Ava, Riley, and unconscious James collapsed. All three of them tumbled down into the darkness below.

I felt the wood below me begin to shatter and grabbed the doorknob tighter with one hand and with the other, I tried to pull myself onto stable ground behind the door.

The wood below my legs suddenly snapped, and my legs were dangling off the edge. My grip on the doorknob was about the only thing keeping me from pummeling into the oblivious darkness below.  
"Maddy," Austin shouted to me. "Don't move." In one leap, he jumped onto the creaking stairs that we used to reach the second floor. There was a loud snap and the floor where he once stood was now gone.

"Austin!" I cried, "I'm falling!"  
He was four feet away from me, standing on the top of the stairs, reaching out his hand for me to grab.

The smoke was getting to me, my vision blurred as I stretched my hand out toward Austin. I couldn't reach it and I felt the boards beneath me quickly crumbling.

"Hold on," he coughed, pulling back his outstretched hand.

Suddenly, I felt weightless. I was no longer slipping, falling into darkness. I closed my eyes as I was carried by an invisible force onto the stairs where Austin was standing.

When I felt my body hit the hard, scratchy stairs, I opened my eyes. Then all my senses of gravity returned. I was the full hundred and twenty pounds that I was before.

"Ugh," I groaned.

"Maddy," Austin said, pulling me to my feet. "We have to get out of here. The house is falling apart."

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I looked around, trying to see through the smoke. There was no sign of Ava, Riley, or James.

I followed Austin out the door as the crumbling house fell down around us.

When we were a good distance away from the burning house, we stopped walking and I fell to the ground.

"Nevada," Austin said, turning to me. "I've got to go to Coppertown, Nevada"

_No "Are you alright, Maddy? Can you still breath?"_, I thought sarcastically,_ Gee, he's compassionate._ I looked up at him and saw that his cheeks and his hair were sprinkled black with soot. He was cradling his left hand against his chest. It was badly burnt and he was still coughing from inhaling smoke. I began to wonder how much of that fight I hadn't seen.

But that didn't stop my outburst. I climbed to my feet and filled my lungs with clean air, preparing to shout at him. "What the heck! You just had balls of fire shot at you! I almost fell through the floor! We just escaped a burning building!" I crossed my arms over my chest. "And all you can think of is going to Nevada? Look at your hand!" I screamed. "You owe me an explanation," a million questions ran through my head, "Who were those kids?"

"Josh," was all he said, completely ignoring my question.

"He's probably still at school. Playing after school baseball with the other boys," I trembled, still angry with him. But he didn't believe my words, and neither did I.

"I need a hundred and fifty dollars."

"A hundred and fifty! Are you out of your mind."

"Maddy, please. I need to get to Nevada. To find Josh."

I looked deep into his eyes and saw the anxiety, worry, and fear. His brother was the only thing he had.

"Follow me," I said, sighing.

**Now how was that for action? Oh, and my computer is weirding out on me. For some reason, all the punctuation disappears at the end of the talking - just inside the quotation marks. I did my best to add them in, but if you see anything I missed, please let me know in a review. Thanks.  
**


	10. Chapter 9

**Back to short chapters again. Review.**

"You're name's not Sean," I stated, as we entered my empty house.

He smiled, "No, let me introduce myself properly. I'm Austin. My brother's name is Josh."

"Austin...?" I said, wondering his last name.

"That's not important," he said, quickly.

"So tell me, Austin," I said nervously, as we started climbing the stairs. "You're... you're... tele-"

"Telekinetic. Welcome to my life," he said, grimly.

"That's pretty cool." _To be able to move things with your mind, that wasn't cool, that was freaking awesome!_

But he turned on me so quickly, at once I had regretted what I had said.

"Cool?" he looked at me disgusted. "You don't have a clue what I can do. Sure I could send that chair flying across the room. Sure I can make that bed levitate." Austin shook his head slowly and then stared me in the eyes. "I could snap your bones, crush your head, make you bleed until you die. No," he said quietly, "'Cool' is not what I am."

It was at that moment when I became truly frightened of him. I had just invited this kid into my house. I was going to lend him money. And here he is, telling me he could kill me just by thinking it!

We climbed the rest of the stairs in silence and arrived in my room. I took out my wallet, and began counting the bills that it contained.  
20... 40... 50... 55 dollars "That's it," I said, "only fifty-five dollars. We're two hundred and forty-five dollars short."

"What?" Austin said, in disbelief. "How'd you figure that one out?" Then it dawned on him. "No way! Not a chance."

"You need help. We need help," I said.

I don't know why, but for some reason I felt this strange impulse to go with him. _Forget all this "I can crush your head" stuff, let's go hop on a unicorn and rescue a little boy!_ I thought sarcastically in my head.

"We?" he repeated.

"I'm not letting you run off to some psychos by yourself."

"I can take care of myself," he said defensively.

"And look where that got you and your brother."

His head snapped in my direction, his eyes piercing mine.

"Sorry, that was unnecessary," I paused, "But listen to me, Austin, I can help. I know I can."

"Now let me tell you something, Maddy. My brother and I... we're not like other people."

A sarcastic remark, like, "What! That's a shocker," was on the tip of my tongue when I looked up at him and realized how hard it was for him to be telling me this; spilling his deepest secret.

"And there are more of us," he continued. "Josh and I, we've seen both sides of our world. We've been with Osiris and his malicious henchmen and we've been with Jayden who capitalizes on all us Validians."

"Validians?" I asked him, already suspecting what the word meant.

"Trust me, you don't want to get involved."

I smiled slightly, "But I already am."


	11. Chapter 10

**And the story continues:**

I was looking out the window of the public bus, watching the buildings fly by, when I turned to Austin and decided to start firing away my zillion questions at him.

"So," I began, "How'd you end up in Paliston anyway?"

"It's a long story," he replied, turning to face me.

"It's not like I'm going anywhere soon," I grinned.

He smiled in return and then turned serious again. "Well, you see, Josh and I, we've never really had a place to call home. I've been looking out for him for as long as I could remember," his eyes drifted away from mine and he looked down at his hands. "Then one day, we ended up with Osiris. When we refused to help him, and instead of throwing us into the dungeons like he did with others who opposed him, he offered us a guest room, in hopes that we would change our minds."

"I'm afraid to ask, but, what exactly does Osiris plan to do?"

His eyes met mine again, and he smiled, "What all evil guys want to do; take over the world."

"I thought that was only in books," I said, half laughing.

"Yeah, well..." Austin turned serious once more. "He wants to make Validians superior to normal people. Come out of the dark and be the ruler of the entire population. What he needs is more support and power, which he slowly, but surely, is gaining every day.  
Anyway, Josh and I received frequent visits from Osiris, while staying locked up in that luxurious room. He would swing by and try to convince us that his view of the world was right. I wouldn't agree with him. Then one day, he said that we would be chained up like the others if we weren't of the same mind." He shook his head slowly, staring at his hands again.

"It was the next day that Josh and I ran away. We escaped, but didn't get that far when Osiris's men started closing in on us. We were running down a dark alley when they caught up with us."

_Two boys came racing down the street. They were being pursued by three men in long, dark coats._ It was a dream I had, suddenly remembering. "You tried to slow them down by knocking garbage cans in their way." I said to him quietly, finally understanding. "But they wouldn't stop. There were three of them. And then, you stopped running and turned around, and you... you..." I trailed off fearing the end of the chase.

"I killed them," he whispered. "Not purposely, by accident. I didn't know what to do; I panicked. Josh couldn't keep up any longer, we were both exhausted." Austin looked up at me, his eyes brimmed with tears. "I broke their legs, all of them, so they couldn't follow us anymore... But they died, lieing there in the dead of the night, in a run down alley. I left deep gashes in their legs and they bled to death."

I was stunned.

He was silent for a minute, but then continued. "Josh and I kept traveling west. We just kept walking and walking; eating whatever we could, sleeping in the woods. Then, one day, we woke up in beds. Turns out we were found by Jayden, and he brought us in to their base. There, they fed us and let us rest for a day. The next day, though, they told us that they needed our help. Jayden and his followers want to take down Osiris, but they're not powerful enough. Like Osiris, they needed help. They said they could train us to improve our talents... I turned them down. Said no; wanted no part of this war. So me and Josh left and continued walking. A week later, we found an abandoned house and decided to settle down for a bit. I enrolled us in school, and we tried to live normal lives."

"Well," I said smiling, trying to lighten up the mood, "You weren't very successful."

He stared at me and said solemnly, "Which is why I have to go to Nevada."

We didn't speak much after that, and I soon fell asleep on that uncomfortable, brown seat.

**Any guesses about Maddy? Who she _really _is? *wink, wink.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Hi again! Short but sweet. Well, as much sweet as short, but enjoy anyways.**

_Austin was running through a dark, empty hallway. Next to him, I saw myself. The footsteps of the other me echoed a bit, while his clamored noiselessly. I ran behind Austin and the other me and watched as she and Austin came to a halt at the end of the hallway, where there was a large, black door._

_"Austin, wait," the figure of me had said._

_He looked at her, then placed his hand on the doorknob and the door flew open. But Austin never turned the doorknob._

_On the other side of the door was Osiris. "Hello Aust," he said cruelly, staring Austin in the eyes. Austin stood there for a minute, his face hidden from me._

_Then he turned around and faced me and my other self. His hazel eyes had turned blood red. "Maddy," he said, heartlessly._

_There was a loud crack and I saw myself fall to the ground, crying in agony. He had broken my leg, the other me's leg, I had realized. "No, no, no, Austin," I whispered to myself._

_

* * *

  
_

"Maddy, Maddy," Austin was calling my name. But his voice was different than before. I could hear the concern, and especially the warmth, in his voice. "Maddy." My gaze left the sobbing me on the floor and I looked up at Austin; his mouth wasn't moving, but his voice was still calling my name.


	13. Chapter 12

**Review please.  
**

"Maddy," Austin called.

I opened my eyes and found myself on that same uncomfortable, brown seat on the bus that I was on not that long ago. Another dream, I sighed.

I turned my face towards Austin, whose hand, I now realized, was on my shoulder, shaking it.

"What's Osiris's talent?" I whispered, afraid I already knew the answer.

"What?" he said in bewilderment. Then he realized what I had said, "You'd rather not know," he replied.

"Tell me. I need to know."

"He... He's a hypnoter," Austin said reluctantly, "He can hypnotize people."

"Control people's minds?" I confirmed, my voice small.

"Yeah."

"And... and when he hypnotizes you... you're eyes turn red?"

"Blood red," was all he said.

That explains the dream, I thought, relieved that Austin wouldn't turn against me when he was in control of his own mind. But then I realized.

"Austin," I said, "I have to tell you something"

"I know," he stated.

"What do you mean by that?" I accused.

"Well, when you were sleeping, you were kind of talking... and screaming"

I felt my face turn red with embarrassment as I stood up and looked around the bus to see who had survived through my screams.  
There was only four other people on the bus; a young man in a navy suit, an old couple, and the bus driver.

I sat back down and faced Austin.

"Tell me what you know about my dreams," I demanded.

His eyebrows rose and he took his hand off my shoulder, surprised by my change of tone.

"I know you're hiding something," I pressed on.

He sighed, and his eyes drifted off, leaving my face. "You'd have found out sooner or later," he muttered. "You see, Maddy, you're dreams, sometimes... usually, they tell the future," he paused. "You're, you're"

He brushed my hair away from my neck and put his warm hand on my collarbone. I placed my hand on top of his, my bruise birthmark, I thought. Austin and Josh have a birthmark in the same place.

"What do they mean?" I asked, quietly, silently shocked. He took his hand away from me and I shifted my hand from my birthmark to his; the ten pointed star.

"They symbolize a Validian's talent," he said.

"So mine's, what, a big blob of nothingness?" I said, remembering how much like a bruise it looked like. But when I looked at the window for my reflection, I saw that my birthmark had a more distinguished look to it now. _Maybe some sort of circle,_ I thought.

"Everybody's looks like that when they're little."

"Well, I'm not exactly little."

"You're talent is young though, not well developed. You'll see, soon it will look like a dream catcher."

"A dream catcher?" I muttered. "That's... creative."

I turned my head and stared out the window again. My dreams can tell the future. My dreams.

"Wait, Austin," I said, remembering my previous dream.

"Uh huh."

"Can the future change? I mean, can the future be different than what I dream it to be?"

"It depends. I don't think so, but I'm not entirely sure."

"Well, then. We're just going to have to prove your theory wrong." I stood up, "We have to get to Jayden."

"What? And what about Josh?" he reminded me, "We have to get to Josh, which means we have to get to Osiris."

"Listen to me, Austin. Just a while ago, I saw us in a dream. I," my eyes started tearing as I looked into his curious hazel eyes. "We were running down a corridor. Osiris was waiting for us at the end of the hallway, through a door. He stared at you for a while, and then... you turned around, facing me, and... and you're eyes were..."

"Blood red," he finished. "Hypnotized."

"We can't go to Osiris and rescue Josh. Not without help. Trust me on this, Austin."

"But, Maddy, I can't leave Josh there any longer than he already is! Imagine what they could be doing to him! You don't know what Osiris is like."

"We'll get to Josh eventually."

"Eventually?" He practically screamed.

"Austin, maybe they'll take care of him. You know... maybe they'll be kind to him like before."

"Hmph," he grunted, making a face at some memory.

"Please Austin. If we go to Jayden, we could save Josh and advert my dream." Then I dropped my voice and said, "Austin, there was no one else with us in my dream."

He stood up, turned away from me, and began walking up the aisle.

He is the stubbornest person I have ever met, I thought slightly smiling.

"Stop the bus please, we need to get off here." Austin said to the driver.

The bus pulled over and screeched to a halt. The door opened and I followed Austin out the door and into the cold night.

I folded my arms across my chest, shivering slightly, as the bus drove away.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now, we find a taxi. Jayden's closest base is in Thermane, in northern California. It's hidden in a clearing in the middle of a forest. We'll drive to Thermane and then go on foot into the forest."

"Alrighty then," I sighed. "Let's find a taxi."


	14. Chapter 13

**Umm... I'm running out of things to say here in my little A/N.**

An hour later, I was in a odd smelling taxi staring out the window into the darkness. Austin was leaning back in his seat, fast asleep. He looks so much more peaceful and innocent while sleeping, I thought as I turned and looked at him. I shifted my gaze to the taxi driver, observing him more closely. He looked a bit Russian, but I couldn't really tell seeing as he was facing away from me. His hair was light blond and he was a tall man. He seemed to be about thirty or so years old.

I looked back out the window; we now were turning onto a highway.

About an hour later, Austin's eyes flickered open, "Where are we?"

"I dunno," I said, not sure he was talking to me. "Somewhere near Criason," I said, reading a large green sign on the side of the road.

"What?" Austin said loudly. "That's by the border of Nevada." He leaned forward toward the driver, placing his hand on the driver's shoulder, "We said we wanted to go to Thermane."

The driver didn't respond, he didn't even turn around.

"Excuse me, sir, we want to go to Thermane." I said, politely, "Not to Nevada."

"Yeah, well," the driver grunted, "Too bad."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I wondered.

"It means," Austin said, grimly, "that he's kidnapping us."

At that, the taxi driver's head spun around and he stared at us. Suddenly, he grabbed Austin's wrist.

"Ahhh," Austin gasped, in pain and surprise.

With his other hand, the driver snapped a large metal bracelet like object onto Austin's wrist.

Before I could react, the bracelet was already stuck on Austin's hand. "Hey!" I shouted. Then realized something, No one's driving the car. "The wheel! Grab the steering wheel!"

The driver let go of Austin's hand and looked at me.

Austin quickly pulled back his hand and examined the metallic bracelet that was fastened tightly on his wrist. "Shoot!" he whispered. Then, with his other hand, he punched the driver in square in the face.

There was a loud snap and blood flew everywhere. The driver was knocked back against the front glass.

"Get out of the car!" Austin said to me.

"What? Are you serious?" I shouted to him. The car was going seventy miles per hour. He wanted me to jump out! "Can't you, you know, slow it down?"

"No," he said curtly.

The driver began to sit back up. His face bloody, he glared menacingly at Austin, who took off his seat belt and rose to his feet.

Austin leaned over the front seat, his expression full of pure hatred, and raised his fist to deliver another punch. His fist came crashing down, but before it reached it's target, the driver's hand came up and grabbed Austin's arm.

"Vladmir?" Austin said suddenly, gazing into the taxi driver's eyes.

"Yes," the driver, Vladmir, said softly. "Austin, I'm sorry, but this is the way it is."

"What happened, Vladmir? Why?"

I watched the two of them Austin leaning over the seat with his arm caught by Vladmir who was against the windshield. Vladmir's face had softened slightly, "They took Selena and the baby. Said they would kill them if I didn't do what they said."

There was a loud noise behind us, a car honking. And that was when I turned my attention to the world outside the small, yellow taxi.

"Austin! The car!" I yelled, staring out the front windshield and looking straight at a large body of water that was right over a cliff.  
Austin will get to the wheel, I thought trying to reassure myself. He won't let the car plummet over the cliff. Besides, there's a guard rail.

But as Austin looked up, we hit the guard rail, and flipped over it. Falling into nothingness; tumbling down until we came crashing into the water.


	15. Chapter 14

**R&R**

"Ugh," I groaned. My head felt like lead, my arms like stone. I opened my eyes. Above me were millions of leaves. Sunlight was streaming through and the air was warm against my cold skin. I slowly sat up and looked around. A few feet away from me, Austin was lying, with his eyes closed, unconscious. There was no sign of Vladmir.

I laid back down. We were in a taxi, I thought, trying to remember what had happened. Nobody was driving the car, Vladmir was fighting with Austin. We crashed into a guard rail, glass shattered everywhere, and then fell off a cliff into water. And yet, here we are, still alive. I opened my eyes again. Still alive. But as I looked over at Austin, I wasn't so sure. He had a huge gash down the side of his head and millions of tiny cuts along his arms. His shirt was torn and his arm bloody. The metal bracelet was still on his wrist.  
I pulled myself up using a tree and walked over to his still body. His chest was rising and falling quickly, in shallow breaths. Still alive, I reassured myself. Then I decided to take a good look at myself. I wasn't in terrible condition, but I've definitely seen better days. Like Austin, my arms were covered in cuts and my shirt was ripped in many places. My head ached, though. _I was lucky to be in the backseat,_ I thought. _Very lucky.  
_  
I jumped as I heard a rustling noise behind me. I turned around slowly, for it hurt to move to quickly, and saw Vladmir walking towards me carrying a large, brown bag.

"You're awake," he said to me.

I examined him and saw his injuries were a bit worse than mine, and but better than Austin's. Vladmir's arm was bandaged up with a stained red cloth, and he also had a small bandage around his head.

"How come you're not beaten up with tiny cuts from the shattering windshield?" I questioned him.

"Because I've got tough skin."

_Like tough skin would save you from knife-sharp glass, _I thought, unconvinced. "Where are we?"

"Don't worry, we're still in California," he replied. "Here eat this," he handed me a banana.

"Thanks. Will he be alright?" I asked, nodding toward Austin, concern coloring my voice.

"He better be," Vladmir whispered with worry. "I've got some medical stuff here," he indicated to the brown bag.

I peeled my banana and took a bite out the soft, yellow fruit, while following Vladmir towards Austin. I knelt down next to him and started helping Vladmir take out the bandages from the bag.

"How... how'd we get out?" I asked Vladmir, while wrapping a white cloth around Austin's arm.

"I crushed the car doors and pulled you two out. Then swam to the surface and carried both of you into the woods."

"But, I thought, with all the water pressure and everything, I thought..."

"We were goners?" Then he pointed to his collarbone.

I should have known, I thought stupidly, he's a Validain.

The birthmark was quite clear and looked sort of like a sideways capital "I," except rounder. It's a barbell, for strength, I realized.  
Enough strength to open a car door under water.

Silence filled the woods as we finished wrapping up Austin's arm and then attended to his head.

"How do you know Austin?" I wondered aloud.

Vladmir looked up at me, his eyes soft, "My wife and I, we watched out for him and his brother when they were real young. Austin was eight, Josh just barely one. I found them one day, asleep in an old car in the junkyard. An eight year old can't take care of a newborn, so Selena and I took them in. Austin was reluctant at first and wouldn't open up to us."

He looked back at the fifteen year old Austin and muttered, "That boy sure is stubborn," before returning his eyes to mine. "We lived in the country, where the two boys grew. Then a few years later, Selena and I had our own child, Owen. I guess Austin became jealous of our attention towards Owen. And now that I think about it, he had every right to be. We didn't treat him and his brother fairly after Owen was born. So Austin took little Josh and ran away."

"Oh," I said, "Do you know what happened to their parents?"

"Austin and Josh's? No, Austin won't speak a word of it. And it be better if you didn't ask him; he hasn't got the best temper."

I smiled, "I know that."

There was a moan from Austin as his head rolled slowly and he opened his eyes. "Maddy."

"Are you alright?" I asked him.

He didn't reply, but just stared up at me and Vladmir. Then slowly, he got to his feet. "Let's go," he said to me.

"Austin, we shouldn't be going anywhere yet."

"My brother," was all he said.

"Look at yourself," I said to him, scanning him up and down, "You're not looking so great. And I'm feeling kind of crummy myself."

Austin looked at me for a few seconds and then turned around and slowly began walking away.

"Wait," Vladmir called, "At least let me get the devalitizer off you."

At that, Austin turned around. He looked at the metal bracelet on his wrist and then walked back to us.

"Devalitizer?" I questioned, "The bracelet?"

"Osiris's idea. Limits the Validian's talent so they can't use it." Vladmir said to me.

"How is that possible?" I said in disbelief.

"Does it really matter?" Austin said, while Vladmir was trying to break the bracelet with his bare hands.

Vladmir made groaning sound as he tried unsuccessfully to break the devalitizer. "I can't... bend... this metal!" He panted. "What is this, solid gold?" he said sarcastically. "Why can't I break it?"

"You can stop trying. You won't be able to break it, it's probably one of Greg's." Austin said pulling his hand back.

"Greg?"

"Metalmolder," Austin said shortly.

"Meaning?" I asked confused. Then I felt stupid, _Metalmolder, duh. Molds metal._

Vladmir looked at me curiously. "Molds metal," was all he said.

Austin turned away from Vladmir and walking away again. Then he turned around, "Vladmir, are you coming or what?"

"Austin, I... I'm going back to Osiris. I'm sorry, but Selena and my son, Owen, are there. I need to get back. I'm terribly sorry"  
Austin's eyes narrowed. "Are you going to tell him about me, about us?" he added as he glanced at me.

"No. Don't worry. I won't tell him a thing. But I'll have to think of a good excuse of why the taxi car is sunk." He smiled at that. "So long. Take care of yourself. And I should warn you, there are plenty of others out there on the look out for you, Austin. Some of them are taxi drivers like me."

Vladmir turned and began walking in the opposite direction of Austin and me.

"Wait!" Austin called to Vladmir.

Vladmir turned around and looked back at us.

"If you see Josh... can you tell him... tell him that I'll be there for him. Not to lose hope," Austin finished quietly.

"I'll try my best. I don't know if I'll get time alone with him, but I'll try my best. And Maddy," he added, shifting his gaze to my face, "It was nice to meet you, even if it was in the wrong sort of way."

And with that, Vladmir left.

"Let's get out of here," I said to Austin.

"How much money do you have left?" he asked me.

I reached my hand into my jeans pocket and felt around for the wet wad of bills. But there was nothing there. I felt around in my other pocket, nothing. "It must have fallen out during the crash. We've got no money," I said, looking up to his face.

"Then we walk," he said, grimly.


	16. Chapter 15

**Almost made these two separate chapters, but then I thought "That would be cruel of me, seeing how short both sections were." Then I had a little fight with myself, Do I feel like being tortuous? In the end, I decided to put them together. And that, my friends, is how I ended up with Chapter 15.  
**

"Are you sure about this?" I whispered to Austin. "How do you know that this guy won't, you know, turn on us?"

"I don't," he replied, "But it's better than walking."

We were in the back seat of a large white van, hitchhiking our way to Thermane. If my mom knew what I was doing, she'd go berserk. Then the tears came. I hadn't realized how much I had missed my parents. They must be worried sick, I thought, I didn't tell them anything. Didn't even leave a letter with an excuse. Didn't even say good bye.

"Are you alright?" Austin asked me in a whisper.

I looked at him, he was tugging at the devalitizer, trying to pull it off his bloody wrist._ It was all his fault_, I thought._ If he never showed up in my life, I wouldn't be here, with my arms all cut up and my head aching. I'd be at home with my parents and laughing with Jojo. No... It was around one in the afternoon on a Thursday. I'd be at school actually. School,_ the thought of something that normal pained me on the inside. But then again, Austin didn't want to be friends with me in the first place. He avoided me. And I was too stupid not to mind my own business.

"Maddy, are you alright?" he asked me again.

"I'm fine, my head just hurts a little is all." I leaned my forehead against the cool glass window of the car and closed my eyes.

* * *

_I saw myself walking with Austin in a dark forest. It was night time and the moon was brightly lit._

_"How in the world do you know where we're going?" I heard my other self ask Austin. "Everything looks the same here."_

_"I just know," was all he said._

_We kept walking for a few more minutes and then Austin lifted his non-bandaged arm and pointed, "Look," he said, with a shocked look of horror on his face._


	17. Chapter 16

**Yipee! Another chapter. Read and Review!**

I woke up to a cold morning. The sun was barely up, just coming over the horizon. Next to me, Cecile slept like a little angel, all peaceful and innocent. To the right of her, was Austin, still fast asleep as well, lying on his stomach. Looking further, I saw an empty mess of blankets, where Adam had slept.

I ignored the worry gnawing at my stomach, and glanced around, my eyes searching out for him.

I spotted him, sitting by himself, staring off into the sunrise. Dragging my blanket with me, I got up into the chilly morning and walked over to him.

"Adam?" I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

He jumped in surprise and then met my light eyes with his dark ones. "Hey, Maddy."

"Did you sleep?" I asked him, concerned, as I took a seat next to him.

"More or less."

Silence fell between us, as we sat together. Him staring back off into the sunset and I studying the deteriorating building.

"Can you tell me what Jayden's like?" I said suddenly.

"Jayden?" He looked up at me curiously.

"Yeah, what's he like"

"He's really nice and used to be funny."

_Used to be_, his words echoed in my head.

"He has brown hair - sort of like yours - and blue eyes."

"What does he do? I mean," I rephrased the jumbled thoughts in my head, "What's his power?"

"He's an Absorber. He can get the same power as someone else by touching their birthmarks. It doesn't last that long though, probably for about an hour or two."

"That's pretty cool."

"Adam, Maddy!" a voice called from behind us, cutting me off.

I whipped my head around and saw Cecile running toward us, her dark hair wild from sleep, with a blanket draped around her shoulders.

I stood, getting the sense that something was wrong, the adrenaline beginning to kick into effect.

"What is it?" I asked.

"We have to go."

_That's it?_ I thought, unsure of whether to be relieved that nothing was wrong or suspicious of why Cecile ran to us just to deliver that message.

"Come on!" Cecile said, impatiently, when neither Adam nor I moved.

"What's the hurry?" Adam asked, voicing my own question.

"Oh, nothing really. But you could say that Austin doesn't have the best patience in the world. He wants us to hurry."

"What about breakfast?" I asked, my stomach not letting me forget my unsatisfying so called dinner last night.

"I don't know," Cecile said, sighing. "Go grab something from inside and then meet us in the parking lot."

I left the blanket on the ground and ran into the old building. I sprinted down the hallway and into the kitchen. After throwing open the cabinet door, I grabbed a loaf of bread, a three cans of food, and a box of crackers. Walking fast back outside, not wanting to drop anything, I entered the parking lot.

There I saw four cars parked, and one I saw idling right in front of me. It was a dark green color and the windows were tinted black.  
The passenger window rolled down, and Adam said, "Come on, hop in the back."

"You've got to be kidding me!" I said, as I peered into the car and saw Adam sitting in the passenger seat, Cecile in the back, and Austin sitting in the driver's seat.

"I am not getting into the car if you're driving," I leaned forward and glared at Austin. "In fact, I'm not getting into the car if any of you are driving."

"Quit worrying and get in. I won't crash," Austin said.

"No way," I folded my arms across my chest. "You don't even know how to drive!"

"And you do?" he shot back. "Besides, it's quite simple. You just turn the wheel and press the pedals."

"Don't worry, if we get into a jam, I'll give him some tips." Adam said, grinning, "I used to play 'Need for Speed' 24/7."

"Come on, Maddy," Cecile pleaded.

I turned my gaze to the back seat where Cecile sat with her seat belt on. "You honestly trust him with your life?"

"Not with my life, no. But I trust that he can drive a car," she answered, sweetly.

I sighed and pulled open the back seat car door, defeated. "Is there even a road that leads out of here?"

"More or less. How do you think these cars got here in the first place?" Adam answered me.

I had this odd idea to go to sleep and try and see if any dreams would come to me showing me if we would crash or not. But I decided against it. _Firstly,_ I thought, _If something were to happen, wouldn't I have saw it last night? And secondly, I am not tired whatsoever._

**So, let's see how Austin's driving really is! Don't forget to review.**


	18. Chapter 17

**Enjoy!**

In truth, Austin was not such a bad driver after all. Only when we hit the highway, did his ability to get us killed showed.

"Holy cow! How fast are you going?" I looked up from the window and saw the speedometer just inching past ninety five.

"Just tell me if you see any police cars, alright?" he said calmly, not taking his eyes off the windshield.

"Can we get some music on in here," Cecile asked.

Adam reached out and fumbled with the buttons on the car, finally filling the car with the loud voice of a man talking.

I scrambled to put my hands over my ears, "Lower the volume," I practically screamed.

Adam obediently lowered the volume of the radio.

"And in other news, there has been another child disappearance. Fifteen year old-"

"Adam, I said music," Cecile whined.

"Geez, you guys are so picky," Adam said reaching out to turn the radio dial.

"No wait! Stay here for a minute." I said, realization creeping into my mind.

"-with brown hair, green eyes, and a height of 5'5". Last seen at Paliston High after classes ended. So, any sighting of these four kids, two brothers, age fifteen and seven, and two girls, age fifteen and eighteen, would be deeply appreciated. Call 1-800-KID-LOST Once again, 1-800-KID-LOST. And now back to you Greg with the weather."

Adam switched the radio back off, and then looked at me. Cecile also was staring at me. The four of us sat in silence for a while.

Tears threatened to fall from my eyes. _Fifteen year old girl, brown hair and green eyes... They're talking about me. My parents_, I thought, guilty, _I should've left a note or something. How could I have been that dumb, and just run off. They must be worried sick._

"Hey, does anyone have a phone?" I asked, wiping my eyes with my sleeve.

"Yeah," Adam said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cell phone. "Here," he handed me the phone over the seat.

I was surprised that he actually had a cell phone, and hesitated as the phone rested in his open palm. He's still a thirteen year old boy, after all, with parents who care about him.

My hand reached out, but before I could grab the phone, someone else did, and the car swerved sideways into the lane to the right.

I let out a shriek of surprise and fear, as did Cecile.

Austin hand clenched around the phone as he steered the car back into position.

"Hey!" I shouted angrly, "What was that for?"

"You can't call you parents."

"Oh, yeah? And why is that?"

"Because," he said, exasperated, "They'll trace the call and find us."

"What if I want them to find us?" I shot back stubbornly.

"Then be my guest, we'll drop you off right here."

The car began to slow, as Austin pulled over into the shoulder of the highway.

When we came to a halt, both Austin and Adam turned around in their seats and looked at me. I could feel Cecile's gaze on me too, her sweet eyes begging me to stay.

"Don't you ever miss your parents?" I said, quietly, to the others, tears filling my eyes again. "I mean, we've almost been killed, twice already! Don't you ever feel like going home, having hot chocolate and watching a movie? Being with your parents, who you know will protect you?"

Cecile began crying silently, and I remembered her parents were dead. She leaned on me, burying her head in my shoulder.

Adam just looked at me, "My parents know I'm okay. I'll go back when I need to. But now's not the time."

"You're parents are looking for you too, you know." I told Austin, thinking about the news, Two brothers, ages fifteen and seven, while opening the car door.

"Yeah right," he snorted, "If you believe dead people can walk the living earth."

I was shocked by that, and for a while remained silent. But I soon regained my composure and said, "Sorry guys, but maybe I'll see you around."

I stepped out into the cool fall air, and began to close the door behind me.

"Wait, Maddy!" Cecile pushed the door further out, "Can I come with you? Please?"

_What will I my parents say if I bring home a little kid and ask if she can stay?_ I thought to myself, _But then again, what will they say when I come home in the first place._

"Sure," I said, smiling slightly, "Come on."

Cecile took my hand and we began the walk toward the nearest exit, straight ahead of us. Austin and Adam drove back onto the highway.

**Oh no! Now what? Review if you want more!**


	19. Chapter 18

**It's been a while, but here's Chapter 18.**

"Excuse me, do you happen to have a phone I could borrow?"

Cecile and I entered a McDonalds, where there were about six people sitting around. We walked up to the nicest looking person there, a woman with glasses. She was wearing a dark purple dress, and had here hair tied up in a bun.

The lady looked at me curiously, examining me and Cecile.

"What happened to you two darlings?" She asked us, while searching in her purse.

"It's a long story. But we'd like to get back home, and we need a phone to do that."

The lady handed my a silver cell phone and I took it thanking her.

I walked over to the window, with Cecile trailing behind me, and dialed my home phone number.

Someone picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

It was my mom. She sounded tired and her voice colored with worry and sadness.

"Mom, it's Maddy."

"Oh, thank God!" She cried, "Maddy, are you alright? Where are you? What happened? Is everything okay? Oh, thank God"

"Mom, calm down. I'm fine. I just need a ride home."

"Of course. Where are you?"

"Um, in the McDonalds in New Junction."

"We'll be there right away. Don't move, honey, stay there. We'll be there in about an hour. Oh, thank God you're alright."

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I have a friend here with me, can she come home with us?"

"Who is it? It's not that Molly you told me about, right?"

"No, Mom, it's not like that." I said, wondering how she could think of connecting Molly Taylor with me. "I made a friend, and-"

"It's not a boy is it?"

"Mom! No, her name is Cecile, and she's ten year old girl."

"Oh, alright, then. Your father and I will be there soon. Don't move."

"Okay, bye Mom. I love you."

"Bye sweetie, I love you too. And thank the lord you're alright."

I hung up and gave the phone back to the lady. "Thanks a million."

"No problem," she smiled.

I turned around and walked toward an empty table near the back. I took a seat and Cecile sat across from me.

I smiled at her and said, "Everything will be alright. Don't worry."

"What about Adam and Austin?" she asked me.

"They know what they're doing. They'll be okay." But as much as I tried to reassure her, the words felt hollow.

"You don't happen to have any food or money on you, do you?" I asked the little girl.

But instead of answering my question, she whispered to me, "Hey, Maddy. You see that man over there?" she nodded to her left.

I turned my head to see who she was talking about. What I saw was not a good thing.

There was a man, sitting at a table by himself. He was neither tall nor short and was wearing black pants and a black jacket. His black hair was cut short and he was glaring at us with intense curiosity.

"Cecile," I whispered, looking back at her, "Let's get out of here"

I stood up and she followed suit. We walked out the door. "We'll have to go back in there in about forty five minutes to meet my parents. But for now, lets got over to the Wal-Mart there." I pointed across the street to the huge department store.

"Maddy," Cecile tugged on my sleeve. "He followed us."

"What!" I said in disbelief. "What's this guy's problem?" I turned around and sure enough, there he was.

"Come on, let's cross," I pulled Cecile across the street and into the Wal-Mart parking lot.

"Stop running girls," a voice called from behind us.

I froze.

"There's someone who wants you two down in Nevada and he doesn't take defeat that easily. So I'm going to bring you to him."

I turned around and instinctively pushed Cecile behind me, shielding her from that creep.

"Come with me willingly, or I'll knock you both out and drag you along. Either way, you'll end up with Osiris."

Of course, I thought sarcastically, He couldn't be a normal stalker. He had to be a horrific Validian working for Osiris.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, playing the innocent teenager role.

"Of course you do," he smiled, "I would know." He tapped his finger to his head.  
_  
Telepathic_, I thought, understanding how he found us.

"That's right, Maddy. Now come with me."

"No," I said.

"Seems you've chose the 'knock out and drag along' method."

"No," I said again, starting to panic. Then I turned on my heel and ran, bringing along Cecile behind me.

"Maddy, here!" Cecile said to me, pulling me to the left.

"Cecile, please," I cried back, trying to pull her forward again.

"Maddy, take this," Cecile thrust a long gray pole into my hands.

"What?" I said confused, "Where'd you get this from?"

Without answering me, she looked over at the lamp post that she stood next to. I followed her gaze and saw a the gray lamp post had a pole hanging off of it, holding a sign. On the other side was a piece of pole that jutted off and held nothing. I looked down at the pole in my hand, She thinks I will fight him, I realized, miserably.

"Cecile, I can't," I told her, "We have to run."

I swirled my head around, trying to take another look at our pursuer. What I saw was a massive fist hurling at my face.  
I ducked, but just barely in time. His other meaty fist came slamming into my jaw, in a lightning fast uppercut.

"Ahh," I gasped, shutting my eyes and staggering backwards toward Cecile. I tasted a metallic liquid in my mouth, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Maddy!" Cecile called out.

I opened my eyes with and a new attitude filled me as I saw the man walking toward us and laughing.

A sense of protectiveness overcame me. I'm not going to let this big bully push me around. Be tough for Cecile, I told myself.

"But Maddy, I'm not just a 'big bully,'" The man said, quoting my thoughts.

I glanced down at the gray pole Cecile had given me, and then back up. I thrust the pole at the man, aiming at his head.  
He stepped to the right, dodging my hit easily, with a smirk creeping onto his face.

"You'll have to do better than that!"

I jabbed the pole at him again, but once again, he dodged it.

Another punch headed toward me, I dived to the side, skidding painfully on the concrete.

"Maddy!" Cecile cried. She launched her tiny self at the telepathic man who was hovering over me. Clinging with her arms around his neck, Cecile kicked and screamed.

The telephone pole was still clutched in my right hand, and I threw it at the man. He was struggling to get Cecile off of him and the pole hit him square in the chest.

He staggered backwards and Cecile dropped off of him.

"Run!" I yelled to her. She didn't need telling twice, and bolted down the sidewalk and back toward the main road. I followed her a step behind, my legs hurting from the fall I took.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark blue station wagon driving down the road. My parents, I thought as I recognized the car. A feeling of relief flowed through me.

I waved my arms crazily, not caring who else saw me and thought I was a loony.

"Cecile," I panted, "That's them. Come on"

I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the blue car, which pulled over to the side of the road.

As we neared, the passenger window of the car rolled down, and my mom stuck her head out.

"Maddy! Maddy! Oh thank God," she shouted out the window.

"Mom," I said. I yanked the door open, and Cecile clambered inside. With one last glance behind me, I also jumped into the station wagon. The man was no longer in sight. I sighed with relief and then collapsed against the back seat. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. We're safe, we're safe, we're-

"Maddy! Are you alright?" My dad's deep voice broke my relaxation mode. "Maddy"

I reluctantly opened my eyes and saw my mom staring worriedly over her seat and my dad constantly glancing in the mirror, watching me. Their eyes seemed bloodshot and were oddly red. I wonder how much sleep they lost over worrying about me, I thought noticing their eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said.

"And you must be...?" My mom trailed off, turning to look at Cecile.

"Cecile," the little girl said, announcing her name cheerfully.

"Let's get home," my mom said, turning back toward the front.

An awkward silence filled the small car and I looked over at Cecile. She was staring out the window. _Aren't they wondering where I was?_ A sense of uneasiness filled me. I shut my eyes, trying to convince myself that they were just relieved that I am alright and are speechless at the moment. _Yeah, that's right_, I thought to myself.

"I'm hungry." I heard Cecile pipe up next to me.

I heard my stomach growl, hungry for food, but I ignored it, not really in the mood for eating.

"Oh. Here." There was a crinkling noise as my mom passed something to the backseat for Cecile.

I leaned my forehead against the window, trying to fight sleep and think of a good excuse to be missing for who knows how many days, so I could use that excuse when somebody actually comes around and asks me.

I drifted off to sleep, unsuccessful at coming up with a valid excuse.


	20. Chapter 19

**Maddy's dreams are now in italics, sorry if it was confusing before. When I have the time, I'll change the previous dreams to italics as well.**

_I saw myself and Austin standing in front of a gray, metal door. The hallway around us was empty and cold._

"Austin, wait," my other self whispered.

He just turned his head and then put his hand on the doorknob, beginning to turn it.

The door flew open, but Austin never turned it. Osiris stood in the now open doorway, his hand still on the doorknob.

"Hello Aust," he said, his creepy voice filled the air.

* * *

I woke up sweating and out of breath. I didn't need to see the end of that dream to know what was about to happen. I remembered the same dream that I had on the bus well enough.

I looked around, trying to calm myself down. That was when I realized that I was no longer in the station wagon. I was lying in a bed in what seemed to be a hotel.

There was a TV across the bed and a table and a mini fridge to the right of the room. The walls were painted pale green and there were large windows to the left.

Next to me was Cecile, fast asleep. On another bed were my parents, also fast asleep. I glanced at the clock, 12:03am it read.  
I wonder why we stopped driving.

Suddenly, something in my sleepy head clicked. Red eyes. My thoughts wandered unwillingly back to the dream that I just had. Red eyes.

Cecile stirred next to me.

"Maddy?" she said.

"Cecile," I said urgently, turning to face her. "We have to get out of here."

"What?" she said, incredulously, "Why?"

"Cecile, listen to me. My parents..." I paused, letting the realization set in. "My parents, did you see their eyes?"

"Kind of," she turned and looked over at their sleeping figures. "They were red, right?"

"Yeah," I replied quietly. "We've got to get out of here."

"Osiris got to them... He hypnotized them."

I shuddered, hearing the words spoken made them real, official.

"Let's go." I threw the covers off and leaped out of bed. I crossed the room to the mini refrigerator and took out two bottles of water.

"Cecile," I said, "Grab the bag of pretzels on the counter over there, would you, please."

She nodded, and then walked over and took the pretzels.

I meanwhile walked over to my mother's purse that was on the table. After searching through it, I found what I was looking for, her  
wallet and her cell phone.

Opening it, I took out a hundred and fifty dollars and stuffed them in my pocket. Why does she carry so much money on her? I thought absently.

"Come on, Cecile," I said.

She walked ahead of me, opened the door and stepped through.

I looked back at my sleeping parents before stepping through the door myself.

Carrying the two water bottles and the bag of pretzels, I walked down the deserted hallway with Cecile.

She pressed the elevator button and the the elevator doors opened. We stepped through.

I looked down at my mother's cell phone in my hand.

"Cecile, do you know Adam's cell number?"

"Sure," she said sweetly. "754-233-9203."

I quickly punched the numbers in the phone.

Adam picked up on the fourth ring.

"Hello?" he said sleepily.

"Adam, it's Maddy"

"Maddy?" He said confused. "What are you doing?"

"I... We need your help."

"Cecile's with you still?"

"Yeah."

"Adam, we need you to come pick us up."

"What!" He certainly sounded wide awake now. "What do you mean, 'we need you to come and pick us up'?"

"I'm sorry, but please, please come."

"Where are you?"

My eyes wandered around the silver elevator, landing on a sign. I read the sign off to him, "The Raven Suite, 33 Sunset Dr. Coland, Nevada."  
_  
Nevada_, I repeated in my mind. _We're in Nevada_.

"Let me wake Austin," Adam said, "Hold on a sec."

"Hello?" Austin's voice came on the phone.

I immediately thought back to my dream, and shuddered.

_"Can the future change?" I had asked Austin what seemed like forever ago._

"It depends. I don't think so, but I'm not entirely sure."

His voice rang through my head.

"Hello?" Austin said again, bringing me back to the present.

"Um, hi. Did Adam-"

He cut me off. "Yeah, stay there. We're not that far. Wait outside and we'll be by in half an hour."

"Thanks. And Austin?"

"Yeah?"

"You-"

I broke off as the elevator came to a halt and the small room was suddenly pitch black.

"Um, gotta go." The words rolled off my tongue when I truly felt like screaming. I flipped the phone shut as a million thoughts sailed through my head.

"Cecile?" I said in a small voice.

"I'm here," she replied.

"What now?" I asked as I began to feel my way around the elevator. Searching for the "help" button or any button for that matter. Searching for anything that could get us out of this mess.

"Usually there's a phone or something, but I can't find one. And I can't see a thing. Why, oh why, did this have to happen to us? I mean, we've been through plenty without this happening. We should've taken the sta-"

"Maddy!" Cecile shouted, impatiently.

"What?" I turned around to her and noticed dim light spilling through the elevator door. "Oh, right," I said lamely.

While I was busy rambling off endlessly about how much trouble we were in, Cecile went right to work and bent the elevator doors. I am such a great role model, I thought sarcastically, as I peered out of the elevator.

There was a hallway full of hotel rooms. The second floor, I thought as I saw the room number on a door directly across from the elevator.

"Maddy," Cecile said, tugging on my sleeve.

"Yeah?"

"We're kind of... Well, we're not exactly..."

"Just spit it out."

"We didn't stop exactly on the second floor. We're sort of in the middle of the third and second"

I suddenly realized what she meant. Although I'd seen that we weren't level with the second floor, I didn't realize how high we truly were. I looked down over the edge of the elevator floor. Darkness met my gaze.

I gulped. "Well then," I said, trying to redeem my behavior from before, "We'll just jump."

I took a step forward, closer to the edge. "I'll go first"

_It's simple_, I told myself, _Just jump a mere foot or two forward. It's just like the long jump in gym at school, except if I jump too high, I'll hit the ceiling of the elevator door._

I closed my eyes and bent my knees to jump.

"Maddy!" Cecile grabbed my shoulder.

"What?" I asked annoyed.

"You should jump with your eyes open."

"What?" I looked at her, confused.

"Jump with your eyes open," she repeated.

"Oh, right. Thanks."

Cecile let go of my shoulder and I bent my legs like a spring. Then I jumped.

My feet hit the hotel floor in one swift motion. I landed, stumbling slightly, and then stood straight up.

"Okay, Cecile, it's not that hard." I looked back up to where she was, standing at the elevator edge. "Just jump forward, and make sure you don't hit the ceiling above the elevator door."

"Alright," she said in a small voice.

Cecile bent her knees and jumped forward. She landed next to me and I immediately grabbed her small hand as she staggered forward.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah."

"Let's go then." I pulled her down the hallway, heading toward a red, glowing "Exit" sign.

We ran down the quiet hallway, our feet pounding softly on the carpeted floor. Reaching the end of the hallway I examined the "Exit" door. "Fire Exit" read a sign on it.

Not caring in the slightest, I yanked it open and a burst of cold air slapped our faces, and every other part of our bodies for that matter.

There was a rickety, black staircase leading down to a dark alley. Across the street was a large, brick building with very large windows. There were a couple of flower boxes hanging off the windows. To my left was a parking lot and at the end of the road to my right was the main entrance to the hotel. "Come on," I muttered, starting down the stairs. The stairs creaked loudly and our feet clamored noisily.

"You didn't think you'd get away that easily," a mysterious voice said, filling the silent atmosphere.

I froze, on the bottom step of the stairs. My head swung around, trying to see who was out there. I made out a figure of a man. He was average height and was wearing all black.

"What do you want?" I said with more courage than I had.

"Why are you running away from your parents?" he said, walking closer, his voice filled with mockery. "They care about you and you just turn your back on them?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." I spat at him.

"But I do, Maddy."

The moment he said my name, I recognized him. He was the same man who was in the McDonalds. The same telepathic man who Cecile and I faced in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

"What are you doing here?"

"Seeing that you don't escape," he chuckled. "And I think I'm doing a pretty good job."

I had a hard time thinking up a straight plan to escape from this man, so I just kept firing questions at him.

"How'd you know where to find us?"

"I knew that you weren't intelligent, but I didn't think you were that dumb." He paused, letting his amusement hang in the air. "You at least know about your parents, I see."

He was rummaging through my brain, I was sure of it.

"Well, after your little escape act back by McDonalds, I got orders to be stationed here and make sure you don't do what you're attempting to do."

"That's... interesting." I said, stepping off the stairs and sliding my feet slowly into the street. Cecile soon copying me. "So, now what happens?"

"Now we go back inside, because I am freezing, and wait until your parents wake up to continue driving."

I took another step to my left, trying to figure out how to get around him and into the car Austin and Adam were driving.

The man looked behind him suddenly at the empty road in front of the hotel's main entrance, then he turned back and faced me. "Don't worry, I'll take care of your friends too."

"Yeah right," I snarled.

I looked back at Cecile, who was shivering with her arms wrapped around her chest, hugging herself. She looked up at me, her eyes trying to hide the fear that she felt.

"Like last time?" she asked me, quietly.

I just nodded and she pulled off a piece of the staircase railing and handed it to me.

"That's not going to happen this time, darlings." The man said, realizing that we were attempting to defeat him again with a metal rod.

I just held the rusty, black railing in my clenched hand, glaring at him. "It's not happening again," I whispered.

He looked confused, as he was trying to read my mind. But he didn't know what I was about to do, because, well, neither did I.

Suddenly, I threw the pole at a nearby window in the brick building across the street. The window instantly shattered, sending flying shards of glass everywhere. My arms flew to my cover my head as an earsplitting alarm filled the air.

Taking one hand and grabbing Cecile's arm, I pulled her forward, pushing past the telepathic man, who stood there, frozen. He had a  
funny look on his face, and kept flinching as glass rained down on us.

Cecile and I were next to the main road by the hotel entrance. I kept glancing behind us at the man, wondering why he was stunned and unmoving.

I looked up and down the main road, searching for that green car that I knew would be coming.

"Come on, come on, come on," I muttered under my breath.

I looked down at Cecile, "You alright?" I asked her. I reached over and ran my fingers through her hair, pulling out tiny bits of glass.

"I guess so," she said.

A green station wagon sped down the road, pulling up to the curb.

Austin and Adam... Finally.

With one last look down the alley, the man still standing there, I threw the back door open and collapsed on the seat.


	21. Chapter 20

**Probably the shortest chapter, but it gets exciting in the next one. Remember, Maddy's dreams are in italics. Review!**

The digital clock in the front of the car read 12:48 in glowing red. I closed my eyes and sighed, leaning my head against the back of the seat. Cecile sat next to me, she already seem to be sleeping.

We've been in the car driving for about ten minutes in which I reaccounted all that happened after Cecile and I left.

After Austin and Adam were filled in with all the events, I decided I deserved a well earned sleep. And so I did just that, I slept, trusting Austin to drive and not even scratch the car if there so happens to be a a crash.

* * *

  
_"Josh," Austin whispered as he ran forward to where the little boy lay in a cell._

Josh was unconscious on the cold, concrete floor. His blonde hair matted down and his face pale.

I saw Cecile place her hands on the metal lock and break it. The cell door flung open, and Austin dashed in, followed by Cecile and then a tired looking, version of myself.

"Josh?" Austin knelt down and held his brother.

"We don't have much time left," my other self said, urgently. "We've got to get out of here."

Loud steps echoed behind us and we all turned in the direction of the noise.

"You're right about that," a voice said.


	22. Chapter 21

**Now for the longest chapter so far.**

When I woke up, I noticed that the car wasn't moving. I lifted my head and took a good look around. I was the only one in the car, and it looked to be bright outside. Light streamed in through the dark windows and there was an eerie silence surrounding me.

I sat up and then pushed the door open, a cold breeze hitting my face. I breathed in the fresh air as I turned around, looking for any sign of my three companions. Taking another breath, I realized the air wasn't so fresh. It had a gross, unclean scent. The car was parked on the side of a small, paved road in the middle of the forest. Looking down the road, I saw no signs of civilization. A squirrel running up a tree and four crows flying around were the only signs of life.

Stepping out of the car, I heard voices. Austin's, Adam's, and Cecile's voices. I turned my head in the direction of the noise and my eyes met a sight of the three of them crouched down by the side of the road. I began walking towards them, my feet hitting the pavement making a soft noise.

"Maddy!" Cecile called my name joyfully, looking up at me as I reached them. They were all kneeling around an open sewer on the edge of the road. Cecile's handy work, I noticed, peering at the edges of the sewer where the metal seemed ripped off.

"Guys, I've got to tell you something. Just now-" But I trailed off as the strong stench of the sewer hit my nose and my hand flew to my nose.

"Pleasant smell, huh?" Austin said grinning at me.

I quickly dropped my hand back to my side, embarrassed.

"So, what are you up to?"

"Sewers," Austin said.

"The sewers," I repeated in disbelief. "You're not serious? We're not..." I said shaking my head, "We're not going in them, are we?"

"Well, unless you're so brilliant you can think of another way into Osiris's base."

I didn't have an answer for that.

"Okay," I said slowly, absorbing the news. "So, what's the plan?"

"The plan is-" Austin began.

"-to enter the sewers here," Adam said, nodding down towards the sewer. "And then follow the passage and hopefully end up somewhere in the building."

"Okay then." I sighed, accepting our smelly fate.

"Alright," Adam said, "Who wants to go first?"

As I expected, no one was jumping out of their seat at this opportunity. We all just stared at one another.

Suddenly, without warning, Austin just jumped into the darkness, causing a splash, which we all heard, when he reached the bottom.

"Come on," he called impatiently only a second later.

"One down, three to go," I muttered. "Whose next?"

Adam nodded slightly, and called, "Watch out!" to Austin, and jumped.

He too made a splash when he reached the floor of the sewer.

I turned to Cecile, a thin smile on my face, "Okay Cecile, I'll go and-"

"-Maddy? Can we go together?" She said, cutting me off.

"Sure."

I took her small hand in mine and crept closer to the edge of the sewer.

"On three. One, two, three."

We jumped.

The air rushed past me as we fell for a few seconds and then our feet broke the surface of the disgusting water, sending it everywhere. The water was ice cold and rushing past my legs. The smell in the actual sewer was ten times worse than above on the road. I covered my nose with my hand, and this time it stayed there.

Still holding Cecile's hand, I pulled her over to the side of the sewer where there was a small platform running along the wall of the sewer.

It was mostly dark, but light streamed in through certain places like the hole above us where we just came from. There was a curved ceiling and the water was dark and murky, came up to my knees.

"Come on," Austin said, once we were all on the platform, leading the way forward.

"How do you know which way to go?" I asked, not entirely convinced that we should go the way he was.

"I just know."

I glanced at Adam, who gave me a nod, and shrugged my shoulders and obediently followed. The smell didn't get any better the farther along we went and I soon learned to breath through my mouth, and let my hand fall to my side.

Our footsteps echoed loudly on the metallic platform as we walked in silence. When we reached a rare intersection, Austin and Adam would discus which way to go, if we should turn or stay straight. Seeing as I've never been to this place before, I would hardly know which direction to go in, and I kept out of their conversation, staring at the darkness ahead of us.

The sewer gradually got smaller and dimmer as we traveled deeper. The silence between us was getting eerie and uncomfortable.  
Suddenly, Austin and Adam came to a halt in front of me. Cecile by my side stopped as well.

Above the water next to us was an opening, another sewer grate into the world above us. A little bit of light was streaming through it.

"This is it," Austin said, then he turned to Cecile. "Cecile?" he said, motioning to the metal grate.

"Only thing is, I can't reach it," Cecile said, staring up at the grate.

"Alright then, climb on," Austin bent down into a crouch and motioned for Cecile to get on his shoulders.

She did slowly and carefully. Then Austin stood up and stepped down into the cold sewage water, making his way towards the middle, under the grate. Glad to be still on the dry platform, I watched as Cecile reached up with both hands to the grate. Her outstretched arms came about a half a foot short, her hands grasping at the air.

"I still can't reach," she said.

"Austin, she's just a little bit less than a foot short of reaching," Adam called out.

"Seriously," Austin muttered under his breath, and sighed.

"Whoa!" Cecile yelped as she was lifted into the air off Austin's shoulders.

Austin took a step back from under Cecile and looked up at her.

"Cecile," he said to her, as she was slowly floating upwards, "Bend the metal on the grate. Then push it out slightly. Stick your head above the ground just so you can see who's around. You don't want anybody to see you."

"Okay." When she was near to the grate, she wrapped her hands along the edge of the grate and began molding the metal. After she did that one side, she preceded to do the rest, finally lifting the grate above her head and pushing it out above the ground.

"Now remember, don't let anyone see you."

Cecile nodded as her head slowly rose out of the sewers and above the ground.

Her head spun around, eyes scanning the earth above us.

"There's nobody," she reported back to us. "It's sort of like a court yard up here, and nobody's in it"

"Alright," Austin said to her, "I'll lift you up all the way. Once you're out there, find a close place to hide. Don't go far, but make sure nobody sees you. We'll all be up in a minute."

Cecile rose the last few feet so her whole small body was out of the sewer. Then she scrambled out of sight. With Austin still standing in the cold water, I looked over at Adam. "You wanna go?" I asked him.

"You next," he said.  
I nodded and took a deep breath as I stepped into the icy, sewage water. As I made my way across the water, Austin bent down and cupped his hands together.

"Put your foot here and I'll boost you up," he said, when I reached him.

I smiled, "I don't get to float up there like Cecile?"

He didn't answer me but just motioned me to step in his hands.

I put my right foot in his hands and a hand on his shoulder. Pushing off from the floor, I reached up and grabbed the ground above us, my head sticking out. I shifted a bit so that my arms rested on the ground and I looked back down through the hole.

Adam had made his way over and was now under me as well as Austin.

"Before we get up there," I began thinking of my dream again, "I think you should know-"

But I never finished. With one last shove, Austin pushed my foot higher and I climbed out of the sewers.

Sighing, I took a quick look around and noticed that I stood in a large yard full of green grass. There were a few bushes and two trees scattered throughout the lawn. Surrounding the square yard was a brick building with a many windows and three black doors leading inside.

_Well_, I thought, taking a deep breath, _It certainly smells better up here_.

Spotting Cecile crouched by a bush, I made my way over quickly and knelt down next to her.

"Hi," I said.

She smiled in return, and then shifted her gaze back to the sewer hole, which I had just came from.

Adam's head soon popped up as he pulled himself out of the hole. Spinning around, he found us and walked over.

"Hey," he said in greeting.

Austin appeared just seconds later and he quickly stood up and began walking over towards us.

"Now what?" Cecile asked, once we were all together.

"Now we head to the cells," Austin said, "There on the west side of the building. Which means we have to go..." he spun around looking at each side of the building closely, then pointing to my left, "That way"

He started to walk to a door and Cecile followed, their water logged shoes squeaking with every step.

"Coming?" I said to Adam, before following.

"Yeah, just one sec." He turned to a tree and suddenly, green leaves came sailing through the air towards his outstretched hand. His  
hand closed around ten or so of them and he stuffed them in his pants pocket.

"How much can you do with those?" I asked him, thinking of how unuseful a few leaves could be during a fight.

"You'd be surprised," he said to me grinning. "If we're lucky, you'll get to see." Then realizing what he had just said, he added, "Let's hope you're not lucky"

I nodded, "Let's go," I motioned to where Austin and Cecile stood, beside an open door.

After glancing up and down the empty hallway a few times, we all stepped through the doorway onto the white tiles.

_White tiles_, then a thought came to me.

"Wait," I said, looking down at my soaked, dirty brown shoes, "We should take off our shoes. Dirty shoes and white floors don't exactly go well together." My thoughts trailed off to when my mom would yell at me for wearing shoes in the house on her "favorite, pearl white floors." I swallowed my emerging feelings of normalcy looked back up at the others.

"Off with the shoes then," Austin said, already pulling at his laces.

The rest of us reached for our feet and yanked off our shoes and our socks as well. My bare feet hit the cold floor. They're still wet, but they definitely won't leave a much of a trail.

Straightening back up, we all held our shoes.

"What are we supposed to do with these?" Cecile questioned.

"Dump them. The sewer's probably the best place," Austin said.

Adam nodded, "I'll go," he said, motioning for us to give him our disgusting, wet shoes.

I gave up my shoes to him and watched as he quickly sprinted out to the sewers, dropped the shoes in, and sprinted back to us.

"It's left," Austin said, turning left down the hallway. The hallway was wide and filled with few doors. The walls were painted pale green and the tiled floor was white.

Our feet padded quietly as we walked down the hallway. The four of us kept close to the walls and I couldn't help but think about the millions of movies I'd seen where the characters are doing the exact same thing we were; sneaking into the bad guys base.  
I found it odd that we didn't run into anyone, the hallways were empty and the doors were closed shut.

Each hallway looked the same, same white floors and green walls. Same brown doors shut and the same small windows looking out into a courtyard.

"Where is everyone?" I whispered as we glanced around the corner, "Shouldn't this place be filled with... people," I finished, lamely.  
I spoke too soon. Right around the corner were two men, both dressed in uniform gray. The two men were both tall, one with blonde hair and one with brown.

They weren't talking but rather were standing next to a door in silence. They were staring straight ahead, which thankfully wasn't in our direction, with a bored expression on their faces. Guards, I thought, as I quickly stepped back behind the corner, hidden from them.

"Now what?" Cecile whispered, her face clearly displaying her emotions of worry and frightfulness.

I peeked back around the corner, trying to get a better view of our situation.

"Well," Adam said behind me, "There's always the distraction method."

"No wait," I said, my eye still staring at the two men. One of the men had a cloth wrapped around his right arm. Something in my head clicked with realization, "It's... it's Vladmir." I whispered, turning back to where the rest of them stood.

"Vladmir?" Cecile began, confused, "Who's that?"

Austin pulled me to the side and looked around the corner. "You're right," he said turning back to us.

"Who's Vladmir?" Adam repeated Cecile's unanswered question.

"A friend," Austin said shortly.

"A friend of Osiris?" Cecile looked dubious.

"No, ours. I'll tell you later. Right now we need to get passed them."

"So, what's the plan?"

But we never got to hear the plan, because just then footsteps behind us alerted us to someone else's presence.

My back stiffened, and my head swiveled around, meeting the brown eyes of a man who was slowly walking toward us. He had an unsettling grin plastered on his face. He wore a black long sleeved shirt, with beige pants. His dark, curly hair hung in his face a bit.

"Ahhh," he said, "Children."

**The computer is telling me "unuseful" is not a word. Any sugestions on synomyms? Thanks.**


	23. Chapter 22

**The "he" in this first paragraph refers to the man from the last chapter who found Maddy and everyone in the building.**

His eyes scanned us each, his eyes running up and down us. He stared a bit longer at our bare feet, then met us in the faces again.  
"Children," he repeated, "And what might you be doing here?"

"We were just-" Austin began.

"Standing behind a corner, right next to Trey's office? Discussing how to get past the guards? I'm not that dumb."

My eyes began wandering, searching for a way out of this mess. Next to me, Austin I saw Austin, Adam, and Cecile all doing the same.

"Who sent you?" the man questioned.

"No one," Austin said calmly.

"Yeah, right. You think I'll buy that?"

"Hey, what's going on around here," a deep voice said as a figure appeared from behind the corner we were standing next to.

It was a man, tall with light hair. He looked a bit Russian.

Vladmir.

"Children," the other man replied, nodding in our direction.

Vladmir looked over at us. His eyebrows raised in shock as he realized we were the "children". He quickly masked his emotions, his face turning stern.

But his shock didn't slip past the other man.

"See a mouse?" he teased.

"Sorry," Vladmir said. "Just, children here seems a bit..."

The man laughed, "I know what you mean."

"I'll take care of them," Vladmir said to the other man. "Throw them in the cells and see what Trey wants to do with them."

"You're on guard duty. I'll take them."

I felt Cecile shift next to me. Her hand reached up as she stroked her curly hair, letting it fall in front of her face.

"Nah," Vladmir said, "I'm just about done. Kevin's coming in just a few minutes"

"Listen," the other man said, "give me those Devalitizers," he pointed to Vladmir's bulging pocket, "And I'll take care of them."

Vladmir looked down at his pocket.

"Besides," the man added, grinning, "Children could be fun to torture."

Vladmir's eyes widened, and his hand curled into a fist.

Suddenly, Vladmir's fist was soaring in the air towards the other man.

The other man seemed surprised at first, but then he quickly stepped to the side, avoiding the blow.

"What the-!" he screamed.

"Go!" Vladmir shouted to us.

We didn't need telling twice. The four of us sprinted down the hallway, running as if our lives depended on it, because, well, they kind of did.

Panting, we turned corner after corner, running through hallway after hallway.

_How big is this place?_ I couldn't help but think.

"Hey!" A voice shouted from behind us.

Still running, I turned my head in that direction. There was a woman dashing after us, only a few steps behind.

"What do you think you're doing? Who are you?" She shouted again.

Suddenly, I felt a gust of wind pulling me backwards. I stumbled backwards, unable to fight the force of air pushing against me.

Looking sideways, I saw Austin, Adam, and Cecile, all struggling in the same way.

Breathing was becoming harder, with so much air blowing into my face.

My feet were sliding, and I was becoming dizzy.

Then it all stopped abruptly.

I staggered forward, and fell to my knees.

Looking behind me, I saw the woman unconscious back far against the wall at the end of the hallway.

I sighed with relief.

I got to my feet slowly and glanced at the others.

Adam turned his head around and leaves floated out of his pocket.

They flew behind us, straight at the woman.

The leaves swirled fast around her, then finally forming a vine wounding around the lady was now on the floor. Bounding her limbs together. Austin was already walking forward, determined to get to his brother.

Adam jogging to catch up to him, and Cecile still on the floor next to me.

I extended my hand to her, and she took it gratefully.

"Thanks," she said, climbing to her feet.

"Come on, let's catch up."

"But, shouldn't we... hide her or something?" Cecile asked looking over her shoulder to the woman.

"We should," I hesitated, "But, we're in a bit of a hurry. I think they might already know we're here."

She nodded, still unconvinced, but grabbed my hand and began running again.

Down a long, windowless corridor, we ran, passing only two doors. "There," Austin said, referring to the door straight ahead of us.  
Coming to a halt in front of the door, I suddenly felt this odd feeling flow through me.

"Wait," I said, not entirely sure what we were waiting for.

Then an image popped into my head, three of us breaking open a cell door. Josh on the floor, Austin bending down. A voice filling the gray room.

"Guys, I should of told you this but-"

Austin's hand was already on the doorknob, not waiting for me to finish, he flung the door open, and walked in.

"Someone's gonna find us here." I continued, determined to actually get the message across this time. "We've got to be quick. Like, really quick. In and out. In fact, someone should stay here and keep watch."

"Alright," Adam said, "I'll do it, but hurry up."

"You sure?"

He nodded.

I turned my back to him and made my way farther into the room, where Austin was already many steps ahead of me.

We entered a large room filled with small metal cells. There were no windows and the only door was the one we just came through. As I looked down the dark room, I only saw two figures. One was sitting upright in a cell, turning to face us as he heard the door open. The seemingly fourteen year old boy was wearing ragged clothing and no shoes. He had coppery hair and his hazel eyes darted to each of us, trying to figure out who we were.

I walked farther into the room, past this boy who didn't say anything, just stared at us as we walked by. There, I got a better look at the second figure who was trapped in a cell. It was a small boy, with blonde hair. He was laying on the floor, eyes shut, and his clothes were torn in places. Around his small wrist was a metal shackle.

"Josh," Austin whispered as he ran forward to where the little boy lay in a cell.

Cecile stepped forward and placed her hands on the metal lock and broke it. The cell door creaked open, and Austin darted in, followed by Cecile, and me.

"Josh?" Austin knelt down and held his brother.

"We don't have much time left," I said, suddenly breaking the eerie silence. "We've got to get out of here"

Loud footsteps cut me off as we all turned around in the direction of the noise.

"You're right about that," a voice said, as a woman stepped into the light, in front of the cell door. She was a tall redhead, with blue eyes. She was wearing a long black dress and heels, an outfit that made it seem like she just came from a party.

"Who are you?" Austin said, accusingly, looking up from his brother.

"I should be the one asking you that," the woman replied. "But, seeing that I'm a nice person, I'll tell you that my name is Veronica. Now," she smiled, "Who might you be?"

"None of your business," Austin snarled, looking back down at Joshua. "Cecile," he muttered to the little girl kneeling next to me.  
Understanding the unspoken message, Cecile moved slightly closer to Josh and wrapped her hands around the metal shackle on Josh's wrist. The shackle fell to off with a clatter, and Cecile turned her gaze up to Veronica, as if daring her to punish her for what she just did.

Veronica kept calm though, and continued talking. "So," she said, "Now that the three of you-"

A thought suddenly came to me, as the word "three" echoed in my head. There were four of us, Austin, Cecile, me and Adam. Adam was standing guard.

I cut her off, "Did you see a boy just outside?" I asked her, trying to hide my worry and anger.

She looked startled, then quickly recovered, "Ahhh, yes, in fact I did. Brown hair, about this tall?" She held her hand up to about the same height as Adam was.

"Yes," I said darkly, "And..."

"Well, he caused us some trouble, but eventually we got him taken care of. Anyway," she went on, "As for you-"

"Where is he?" Cecile asked.

Veronica looked mad, apparently she wasn't used to being interrupted. "He's around," she said simply.

Just then, someone entered the room. A few someones, I realized. There were two men, pulling along a reluctant boy. It was Adam.  
He was bruised on his face and a large bruise was forming on his arm. The look on his face turned from one of anger to one of even deeper anger mixed with hatred, when he saw us with Veronica hovering over us.

"Thank you," Veronica said to the two men, "You can leave him here with me."

The two men dragged Adam toward us and threw him in the cell that we were all crouched in.

Then the two men stalked off, leaving the room and slamming the door shut behind them.

"Now, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, Osiris is expected to come by in just a few days. Wait till you see the look on his face when I've told him I've captured all five of you and not just some little boy." She smiled cruelly, reaching into a small pocket on her black dress, she pulled out four metal bracelets.

_Devalitizers,_ I thought, the hope draining from me, as I realized our fate.

"Of course, I'll have to get one more to replace the one that was in the shackle for the small boy."

There was a swift sound as the gray cell door swung quickly forward, and hit Veronica, knocking her forward.

She fell to the concrete ground, the Devalitizers falling to the ground with a clank, and she stayed there unconscious.

After staring at her, I looked over at Austin, who was still focused on the cell door.

"Let's get out of here," I said, looking at each of them in turn. "You okay?" I asked Adam when I looked over at him.

He nodded and then stood up. "Let's go."

Cecile stood up and I followed.

Austin picked up Josh and carefully put the little boy on his back, holding him like he was giving a piggy-back ride.

Cecile lead the way out of the cell, me following her and the boys behind us.

Our footsteps echoed on the concrete floor, as we walked down towards the door.

The boy who we passed before was still there. Still sitting in his cell watching us walk by.

"Wait," I said, coming to a halt next to the man's cell. "We should help him."

"Maddy," Austin began.

"Please, Cecile?" I said, turning to her.

She didn't say anything but just walked over to the cell and began working the lock.

It broke open with a click and Cecile pulled open the door.

"Hi," she said sweetly, "I'm Cecile, what's your name?"

Just like a kindergardener making a new friend, I thought smiling at her innocence.

"Damian," the boy said, in a scratchy voice, as he stepped up from his sitting position and walked out of the cell. "Thanks," he added.

"No problem," Cecile smiled.

Just then, a loud voice echoed throughout the building on what seemed to be an intercom of some sort.

"Code red. Code red," a male voice said urgently. "We have a break in"

I froze.

**I don't know if you've noticed, but I have a bit of a problem with paragraphs and tend to make to many of them when I don't need to. **


	24. Chapter 23

I glanced at the others, now one girl and four boys, they all shared the expression of what I was sure was plastered on my face as well. Horror and panic.

"We've got to get out of here. Fast," Adam said.

Easier said than done, I thought glumly. "Sewers again?" Cecile asked, crinkling her nose.

"Doesn't matter. Let's just go," with Josh on his back, Austin lead the way out of the dark room, through the door.

We exited single file, after Austin and Josh came Cecile, Adam, me, and lastly, Damian.

Entering the hallway again, there was a red glow that flooded the building. Every few seconds it would grow strong and bright, then it would dim.

"Code red," the man said again, "The intruders are children, I repeat, children."

Simultaneously, we all broke into a run.

I heard doors slamming open and shut. Confused people shouting to each other.

"What do you mean? Children?" "How many?" "We've got kids breaking in? Gee, that shows how tight security is."

We skidded to a halt at an intersection with another hallway.

I peered around the corner.

"Shoot," I whispered, "There are people everywhere. Walking towards us even."

"Now what?" Cecile said quietly.

Walking back towards the room with the cells, I my eyes scanned the hallway, searching for anything that could help us.  
There were no windows what so ever. Just our luck, I couldn't help but think. Walking over to a door, I tugged on the doorknob, willing it to turn.

It didn't.

Seeing what I was doing, Damian sprinted over to the only other door in the hallway. After rattling the doorknob, he sighed. "Locked," was all he said.

"Cecile," I said, my voice soft, "Do you think you could help us here?"

"The doorknob's metal?" she questioned, walking over.

"Yeah."

"But once they see that it's messed up, they'll know where we are," Adam said.

"Have any other ideas?" I shot.

He kept quiet and walked over with Austin.

Cecile tinkered with the doorknob, contorting it's perfectly round shape.

"Hey!" a man yelled.

My head swiveled around, and saw a man running down the hallway towards us.

"Come on, come on," I said under my breath to Cecile.

With a shove into the door from Adam, the door fell open and we scrambled into the room.

Glancing around the room, taking a head count, making sure everyone was here, I slammed the door closed.

"Hey!" came a yell from the other side of the door.

Looking around the room, I saw that we were in a closet of some sort. It was an extremely large closet, with shelves covering every inch of the walls. No, I realized, not every inch. There was a small window on the far wall, letting light spill into the room.

There was a banging noise, and I turned my back to the window and looked at the door which we just came from.

Damian was standing against the door, preventing it from opening.

Fists were pounding against the door, accompanied by shouts.

With Josh still on his back, Austin walked over to the window and peered out it.

Stepping back, he shook his head. "People are all over the place. There's no way we'll get out." The door jumped inward, opening a crack.

Adam leaped over to help Damian with the door, shutting it closed again.

"Hey kids," a voice from the other side of the door called, "Let us in, we don't want to hurt you."

"Yeah right," came Austin's voice from behind me.

"You're giving us no choice," the voice said again. "Connor, go ahead."

At first it seemed like nothing was happening. But then smoke began crawling in from the crack under the door.

"Ahh," Adam gasped. "Door's burning up."

"They've set it on fire," Cecile said in a small voice.

"Out the window," Austin said, already beginning to open it up. "Cecile, you first. Once out there, give them no reason to hurt you. We'll get out of this mess."

She nodded solemnly. Then made her way to the window and out it.

"Maddy, you next."

I walked over to the window coughing. Smoke was rapidly filling the small room, making my eyes tear and my lungs hurt.

I grabbed the sides of the window and pulled myself up onto it's ledge. Looking out, I saw the window was about five or six feet off the ground.

Taking a deep breath of fresh air, I jumped.

Landing on the ground, I stumbled forward next to Cecile, who was standing with her hands up in the universal defeat sign. Around her, stood about ten men and five women, all facing her. Their eyes now moved to me. Coughing a bit more, I joined her, raising my hands palms outward.

Hearing the a soft thud of feet hitting the grass, I turned around and saw Adam, followed by Damian, coming out of the window.

They joined Cecile and my side, both coughing. Like us, they raised their hands in defeat.

"That's all of you then?" A man spoke.

"No," I answered shortly, turning my gaze back to the window.

Josh came floating out, still unconscious, and landed softly on the grass. Right behind him, Austin jumped out, coughing and landing next to his brother and scooping him up in his arms.

All six of us were surrounded by fifteen people, who were no doubt thinking of the best ways to punish us, and a burning building.

"Someone get that fire out!" a man shouted. "Karen!" He barked at a woman wearing a blue blouse and black pants.

"I'm on it," the woman, Karen, said walking away.

"So," the man said turning back to us. "I suppose this is all of you now?"

The man seemed to have the highest authority. He wore a black suit with no tie. Glasses rested on his nose, and was balding slightly.  
"I asked you a question!" the man shouted at us.

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Well then," he paused, "Who sent you?"

"No one," Austin spoke calmly.

"Do we have to interrogate you separately?" he threatened, his blue eyes boring into us. "Who sent you? Was it Jayden?"

"It wasn't Jayden. No one sent us," Adam said.

"You think we'll believe you were just passing by and decided to drop in? Say hello and joyfully skip out?"

In our silence, a woman leaned over to the man and whispered something in his ear.

"Ahh," the man said, a look of realization spreading across his face. "I see. Came on a little rescue mission, did we?"

Again, we kept silent.

"I don't think you need me to tell you that it didn't go all too well. Now, you've caused us much unneeded trouble, so we'll give you two choices," he paused dramatically, an unsettling grin spreading across his face. "Help us, and you'll be treated well, as a guest. Or we'll force answers out of you and then throw you into a cell. Your choice."

A million thoughts buzzed through my head, _Stay silent? Refuse to help them? Help them, but give them false information and then escape?_

In the end, I remained silent, like the others.

"Excellent," the man said, clasping his hands together. "Then we'll escort you to the cells, where we've got special prizes waiting for you."

"Special prizes?" I heard Austin mutter quietly under his breath.

From behind me, someone grabbed my shoulders with strong hands, and began pushing me forward.

"Try anything funny," he whispered to me, "and I won't hesitate to kill you or your friends."

I had no response to that, and just kept walking forward.

Some of the group of adults left, leaving eight men and women still surrounded us, accompanying us all the way to the cells.

I took a look around me, my eyes searching out the others in this mess of people.

I saw Cecile pushed along by a muscled man with a mustache. Adam was being pulled by a tall man with brown hair. Small strands of grass were rising by his feet, floating slowly into his pants pocket. I smiled.

"What's so funny?" a harsh voice from the man who was pulling me along asked.

"Nothing," I mumbled, staring at my feet again.

Onward we walked, into the building and finally down the long hallway which we had just escaped from. The red glow from before was now gone, only a yellow light from the ceiling filling the corridor.

A burning smell still lingered in the air and as we passed the closet, I saw it was black with soot.

Back into the room with the cells, a woman walked over and tried to clip a Devalitizer on me.

I struggled to resist, but it was helpless. The man was still holding me and had a firm grip on my wrist, and let's face it, I wasn't exactly a weight lifter champion back at school.

The metal bracelet snapped on and I was thrown in to a cell.

Hitting the concrete floor, I gasped in pain as my shoulder stung with the impact. My eyes began to water and I looked up to see Damian in a cell next to me his eyes filled with sadness. _He just got out_, I thought, a_nd now is thrown straight back in_.

To my right, in another cell was Cecile, silent tears streaked her face.

The man who had just thrown me in, left the cell door open a bit. Sticking his head through, he looked at me and smiled cruelly, "We're gonna have-"

But he was cut off and his attention wandered as another man shouted angrily at Austin.

"Young man," the man was saying, trying to clip a Devalitizer on Austin's wrist unsuccessfully. "Cooperate or-"

Suddenly the man flew through the air and hit the back wall with a sickening thud, never finishing his threat.

"Or what?" Austin said, as the other men and women turned towards him in surprise.

Suddenly Adam jerked free of hold and now had millions of grass blades zooming out of his pocket.

And then a fight broke out. The man who was just at my cell door, cursed silently, and ran off to join the rest of his companions.  
Two against eight, well, now seven, had the odds against us, but Austin and Adam were holding out.

There was a lot of attempted punching going around, and I guessed a lot of these men had super strength. Other than that, there was one man who looked confused and unsure of what to do. He was quickly knocked out. There was another small man who seemed to have super speed, but he was unsure of what to do as well. He just kept running around in circles, attempting to punch someone. But with his size, I wasn't sure he could do much damage.

Adam was causing the grass to soar threw the air at high speed, whizzing by people just grazing their shoulders. These people gasped with pain as millions of cuts covered them.

"Behind you!" I yelled to Adam, who was focused on another man in front of him.

He quickly turned around and ducked at a punch headed at his head. Then, sending the grass after that man, he turned to me.

"Thanks," he said. On the other side of the room, Austin was still carrying Josh on his shoulder. He was sending men flying backwards with his mind. But they just kept getting up, and hurdling themselves toward him again.

A look of surprise crossed Austin's face, as Josh woke with a start.

"Austin?" he said weakly.

Austin turned his head towards his little brother.

Seeing an opportunity, a man came out with a punch and hit Austin square on the shoulder.

There was a crack, as the contact was made, and Austin dropped Josh to the floor, intentionally or unintentionally, I didn't know.

"Maddy," he said, his eyes meeting mine.

I nodded, and stood up, understanding the unspoken words. Pushing the cell door open, I called out Josh's name.

He looked startled at first, but then quickly recognized me and began slowly crawling over.

"Oh no you don't," a man said lunging at Josh.

Grass suddenly shot toward him in piercing blades, cutting him up as he screamed in agony.

"Maddy," Josh breathed as he made it in my cell.

I smiled at him, and then examined him more closely.

He seemed to be for the most part all right. He was pale and clammy, and thin as well.

He fell into my arms as I held them out for him. I held him there for a while, as he was sobbing into my shoulder, watching the fight die down just outside of the cells.

There was only one man left standing. It was a woman actually, I realized taking a closer look. With her back to me, she smiled cruelly at both Austin and Adam, who were slowly making their way towards each other, both beaten up pretty badly.

With a slight nod of her head, there was a loud snap, and Adam cried out in pain. All that remained of the flying grass blades now dropped dead to the ground. He held his wrist close to his chest.

"Hey!" Austin shouted angrily, stepping in front of Adam, shielding him.

A thought crossed my mind, _I could snap your bones, crush your head, make you bleed until you die_, Austin had told me once angrily. I was ninety-nine percent sure that this lady was telekinetic and had just broke Adam's wrist.

The woman laughed, "Game's over kids. Now it's time you cooperate, or we may have another little incident, and who knows," she paused, "It could be enough to take one of your pathetic lives."

"Then you should of killed us from the start," Austin snarled.

"Well, even though considering how much I'd love to do that, I can't. Osiris wants as many Validians he can get, and you're not much use dead, now are you? Besides," she continued, "It was rather fun to watch you fight off those men."

She turned to Austin, "You have a lot to learn. And seeing as I'm the only other telekinetic one, not to mention that I'm highly accomplished, I could teach you."  
"Never."  
She just smiled, as another loud snap echoed through the room, and Austin stiffened, clenching his teeth, his face trying to hide the pain.

The woman turned to Adam, "And Kevin could teach you how to really take control of a tree, not some pathetic blades of grass."

Adam kept his mouth shut tight, his eyes staring at the woman with hatred and pain.

"Maddy," Josh whispered turning his face into my hair, unwilling to watch, "Do something."

I was at a loss of words. _What could I do? I had a Devalitizer on, and even if I didn't, my power was barely anything, only short, short glimpses of the future. And supposedly if I was developed and "highly accomplished," what could I do?_

Josh looked up at me, "You don't need a power to make a difference," he whispered, surely reading my thoughts.

I bit my lip and began untying my shoe lace.

"Well then," the lady said, seeing their defeat. "I think you'll be needing these." She pulled out two Devalitizers from her pocket and jingled them.

"Now," Josh said quietly to me.

With my shoe in my hand, I raised my arm and threw it as hard as I could through the open cell door at the lady.

It hit her straight on the head, and she fell to one knee, her hand reaching back to her head. Her head whipped around and her dark eyes pierced me.

"You little-" she began, but a second later, she was thrown against the cell bars and fell silent as her body fell limply to the floor.

**Another chapter done! Like it? Please tell me in a review.**


	25. Chapter 24

There was a moment of silence as we all just stared at the unconscious body on the concrete floor.

Then Josh stood up from my side and ran over to his brother, a huge grin spreading across his tired face. Austin fell to a knee and wrapped his arms around Josh. They stayed there for a while, on the cold floor. This is what we came here for, I thought, smiling, This is why we're all bruised and beaten. Just for this moment.

I shifted my gaze over to the others.

Adam was just standing there, his hand still against his chest. He was a bit bloody, but mostly bruised. The ones from earlier on his arm and face and the fresh ones all over him. His face was an expression of pain and pride all mixed together. More pain than pride though.

Still in the cells were Cecile and Damian. Cecile stood up and was against the cell door, her small hands wrapped around the metal bars. Damian hadn't moved from where he was, still sitting, but watching with interest as Austin and Josh began walking over towards us.

Still clenching his brother's hand tightly, Austin spoke, "So, how are we gonna get you two out?" He looked over at Cecile, then shifted his gaze over me to Damian.

I put my shoe back on, tying the laces tight, and then walked straight out of my own cell.

"We could try and break the lock," I suggested.

"But how?" Austin asked, looking over at me.

I walked over to where Cecile stood on the other side of the cell door and fumbled with the lock.

It was the original lock and key type. Made of pure metal. If only Cecile didn't have that thing on her, I couldn't help but think, glancing at the Devalitizer on her wrist.

I looked back at Austin, "Could you, you know..." I trailed off, hoping he would get the message.

His eyes traveled over to where the telekinetic woman lay, "No," he said, "I'm not that good."

"Maybe, Adam?" I looked over at the other boy hopefully.

"I don't think grass can cut through metal," was all he said.

"So we're stuck," I sighed. "How long do we have until they realize that we overpowered their little horde here."

Josh looked up at me, "I'll let you know if anyone's coming."

I nodded, understanding. _But that doesn't really answer my question_, I thought.

"Now what?" Adam said, to no one in particular. "How do we get them out?"

Austin shrugged, then winced and placed his hand on his shoulder. "I guess we go find the key."

"And where might that be?" I asked.

"Some where in this building. Josh and I will-"

"Someone's coming," Josh said, turning towards the door. His eyebrows creased in confusion, "It's... someone who wants to help us." He looked up at his brother, not understanding.

We all stood frozen where we were when the door flew open and a tall man appeared, closing the door behind him. He faced us, a look of astonishment crossed his face when he saw all the unconscious people on the gray floor. Then his gaze shifted to us.

It was Vladmir.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"What d'you do?" he said, panting heavily. Then a look of concern covered his face, "Are you all alright?"

Austin smiled, "Gave those jerks what they deserved. And we're fine, more or less."

His eyes scanned us each, resting lastly on Josh. "Joshua," he said smiling.

Josh grinned in return.

A thought crossed my mind. A rather brilliant one for that matter.

"Can you break the locks?" I asked Vladmir, motioning over at Cecile and Adam.

"Sure," he replied, already making his way over to the two cells.

His large hands enclosed around the metal lock. He struggled with it for a bit, but then with a click, the lock broke and fell to the floor in a clatter.

He pulled the door open and Cecile hopped out, smiling.

"Thanks," she said.

Vladmir did the same to Damian's lock and Damian stepped out, also thanking him.

"So," Damian said, "how do you suppose we get out?"

"Follow me," Vladmir said, leading the way out of the dark room.

Entering the hallway, we kept quiet, following Vladmir as he walked down the corridor quickly. He looked around the corner, frowning.  
Turning back to us, he said, "Where's that window that you got out of before?"

"This way," I said, turning on my heel and walking towards the burnt closet.

Once inside, I began coughing again, breathing in the thick air that smelled of smoke. The window was closed and I moved over to open it, letting fresh air in.

Peering out the window, I saw no one. Just a bunch of trees and green grass.

"It's all clear," I said, turning back to the others. "Who's first?"

Cecile stepped forward, "I'll go first," she said bravely.

I nodded, thinking of all the other times she went first.

Cecile walked over to the window, put her hands on the ledge and pulled herself up. Turning her head around, she smiled at us, before disappearing.

One by one, we began emptying out the closet. Adam went next, pushing himself up on the ledge with a bit of difficulty, seeing that his arms were no doubt tired and beat. Then he too disappeared below the window. Damian went, easing himself up with no trouble and hopping down on the other side. With a boost up from Austin, Josh disappeared behind the window as well. Austin followed, using one arm to hoist himself up, the other by his side, limp.

With only Vladmir and me left, I glanced at him, and he motioned for me to go ahead.

Without further ado, I propped myself up on the window ledge, and fell over to the other side. Landing in a crouch, I stood back up and looked around me. The others were all sitting against the brick wall right next to the window, waiting for me and Vladmir.

Behind me, Vladmir squeezed through the window and appeared next to me.

"Let's go," he said, walking away from the building to the forest.

Beside me, Austin, Josh, Damian, Adam, and Cecile, sprang to their feet, and followed Vladmir across the green grass. Breaking into a run, we sprinted to the forest in silence, the only sound was the wind rustling the trees' branches.

_That was almost too easy,_ I thought as we made it safely into the forest. But then again, that was our second attempt.

We were in the forest and I was blindly following the rest of the group, not knowing or caring where we were going so long as it was aware from that horrid place.

I fell into step beside Cecile, and she looked up at me smiling.

"You okay?" I asked her, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah," she sighed, "Just I wish I could get this accursed thing off," she lifted her arm, rattling the Devalitizer.

"We'll find a way," I promised her, looking down at the one that was on my own wrist.

"Hey guys," I called out to the others.

Immediately five heads turned my way, their eyes boring into mine.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Some place far from here," Austin said, turning forward again.

"Specifically?"

"We'll go see Jayden and the crew and get those things off you," Vladmir answered me, nodding to to the Devalitizers on our wrists.

"Then see what we can do to help the cause."

"And where exactly is Jayden?" I questioned further.

"Far from here," Austin repeated.

"North," Vladmir said, "About, I dunno, maybe three hundred miles north from here."

"We're gonna walk?" came Cecile's voice.

"We'll figure something out. Walking there is probably the last thing we want to do."

But walking was what we did for the next three hours. We walked through the green forest with nothing in sight but trees and bushes.  
Mostly we were silent, but I did learn a bit about Damian, in one of our talking moments.

The first thing I learned was that he was a healer. My face lit up and I got really excited. _A healer! That's just perfect!_ I looked over at Austin and Adam, who I knew were both hurting. But my excitement was quickly killed as Damian lifted his wrist in my face and I saw the metal bracelet.

I also learned that he had two sisters, Gabriella and Clarice, and parents. He lived in a small town in southern Nevada and was walking home from soccer practice when he was knocked out and woke up in a cell.

Dark was falling and it was getting colder as he told me about first learning about his healing ability.

"...and then the next day I woke up and my ankle was perfectly fine. The doctors didn't believe that it had healed all the way though. They were convinced that-"

"We'll stop here for tonight," Vladmir said as we entered a small clearing in the forest.

Damian stopped talking aruptedly, as we all stopped walking.

"It's a cold," Cecile said, hugging herself.

I silently agreed.

"I know," Vladmir said, "But there's nothing I can do. We're a bit far from civilization and we can't keep on walking throughout the night"

"Yes we could," Austin said.

Vladmir looked at him, "Okay," he said, "Let me rephrase that for you. Six out of the seven of us can't keep on walking throughout the night."

I was about to argue, saying that I could go on if it meant some place warm to sleep, but I kept my mouth shut, suddenly realizing how tired I was.

"Shall we make a fire then?" Josh suggested, "I'll get the wood."

"I'll go with him," Austin said, as he grabbed hold of his brother's hand and began walking into the forest.

"Just be careful!" Vladmir called out after the two of them as they disappeared into the dark forest.

I fell to my knees and collapsed on the soft, wet grass, exhausted.

"Is there anything to eat?" I asked, trying not to sound whiny.

"I could get some berries or something, if I look around," Adam said.

"But isn't it, like, November?" I asked him.

"Actually, today's December first," Vladmir spoke up.

"You've got to be kidding me. Are you serious?"

He looked a bit shocked at my reaction, but then said calmly, "Yes."

_How long have I been gone from home?_ I wondered.

"So, about the berries..." I trailed off, looking back at Adam.

He shook his head, "You're right. No berries in December. At least, no edible ones."

There was a rustling in the bushes and Austin and Josh appeared side by side carrying sticks and kindling. They dropped them in a pile in the center of us and sat down.

"So," I said, breaking the silence that blanket us, "Who knows how to start a fire?"

When nobody answered me my jaw dropped open. "Nobody here knows how to make a fire?"

For some reason that striked me as odd. I mean, I'm sitting with a bunch of kids and one adult who have amazing supernatural powers, who just escaped a prison, and they're telling me none of them know how to make a fire. Seriously!

"Now what?" I said, disappointed. "Could we, you know, rub two sticks together or something?"

"It's not that simple," Vladmir said.

"Then we sleep in the cold?"

"No," Austin said, leaning forward, and grabbing some twigs and dry leaves from the pile, "We make a fire."

Josh and Cecile went over and began searching for rocks and arranging them in a circle for where the fire would eventually lay. Austin set up an area where he set up the tinder, and reached into the pile of sticks and pulled out a medium size, thin stick and a thick piece of bark.

He placed the bark down first, then covered it lightly with some of the tinder. Finally, he stuck the stick down in the middle of the bark.

"I thought you didn't know how to make a fire," I couldn't help but say.

He looked up at me. "I don't," was all he said, and began spinning the stick.

But after a minute or two, his expression showed pain and he stopped, muttering, "Shoulder hurts." He stood up and walked away, then lay down on the grass.

I looked quickly at Adam, Damian, and Vladmir, then took up the stick and began spinning it between my hands.

My arms quickly grew tired and achy. But I was determined to do more. Spinning and spinning, until I thought my arms would fall off.  
Suddenly, smoke emerged from the bark. A grin spread across my face as I inhaled it. _Ironic, isn't it_, I thought, _Just a few hours ago I wanted to get as far away from the smoke as I could. And now here I am, creating more smoke._

"Now what?" I looked up at the others expectantly, "We've got smoke, that's a good sign, right"

They shrugged.

"Well, does someone else mind taking over? I'm a bit..."

Vladmir took the stick from my sore hands and I lay down where I was, exhausted.

As soon as my head hit the ground, my eyelids began drifting closed. At first I struggled to stay awake, but not long after I gave in. Glad to fall into the bliss of sleep.

**Yay! Chapter 24 is done!!**


	26. Chapter 25

**It's been a while, but here's Chapter 25. Please tell me if my story makes sense.**

_I was in the middle of a dark forest. It was night and the only light came from the stars and the moon in the navy sky. I first saw Vladmir, knocked out with his wrists bound tightly with brown rope. As I walked closer, I saw that we were all there, me, Austin, Josh, Adam, Cecile, and Damian. Like Vladmir, we were all lying on the ground unconscious with our wrists bound together._

Suddenly, I hear voices coming from the forest. I turned around and saw about twenty adults walking out of a large, large, brown tent. The tent blended in with the trees, but it was very big and I didn't know how I could of missed it.

As the people came out, my adrenaline kicked in and my eyes searched frantically for a place to hide. Then a thought crossed my mind, They can't see me_, I realized, _A dream, it was just another dream.__

But even so, I walked over to a tree and hid. I was just so much more comfortable there, instead of being out in the open and feeling vulnerable.  
The men and women were laughing, as they walked over to the seven of us on the ground.

Watching from the tree, I saw them come over and kick the unconscious me in the head.

My hand immediately went to my head, and I whispered to myself, "Ow."

The me on the ground groaned, as the adults laughed again.

_  
"They'll fetch a high price," One man said to the others. He was wearing a brown t-shirt and dark jeans. "Especially, those three," he laughed again. "Hey, Greg," the man called out to someone behind him in the mob of people. "Did you get those..."_

* * *

I woke with a start and felt a warm glow against my side. With my eyes still closed I soaked in the warmth, trying to rid my mind of that dream. We just escaped, to see us all us tied up, I shook my head.

Then something occured to me, a small smile spread on my face. It couldn't have been real, I thought, relieved, I have a Devalitizer on, so my dreams mean nothing. I never thought I'd be glad to have one of those nasty things on.

Happy once again, I opened my eyes and sat up. Right next to me was a large, glowing fire.

"You guys did it," I said happily to no one in particular.

Looking around, I realized that only Josh and Cecile were awake. They sat side by side, staring into the fire in silence.

"Good morning," I said to the two.

"Well," Cecile said looking over at me, "I don't know if it's that good. We don't have any food. None at all."

"At least we're not in a cell," I said, trying to be optimistic, even though I felt my stomach grumble.

I walked over to where the two of them sat and kneeled down next to Cecile.

"So, when do we get moving again?" I asked.

"As soon as they wake up and Austin and Vladmir get back," Josh replied.

I looked over to where Adam and Damian were curled up around the fire.

"Where'd Austin and Vladmir go?" I wondered, noticing their absence for the first time.

"For a walk," Cecile said, looking up at me.

I looked down at her, and took her small hand in mine.

With her warm hand in my cold one I realized something. "Hey, what happened to the Devalitizer?"

Looking down at her wrist I saw that it was gone. Only a pink ring on her skin remained, a mark from the metal bracelet.

Cecile grinned and with her other hand she picked up a piece of metal, bent in a funny way. She placed it in my hand and said cheerfully, "They got it off."

I was lost, extremely confused. "Who got it off? How?

"Vladmir and Austin got it off just this morning."

"How?"

"They did something with the fire. Melting it or something like that," she continued still smiling. "And once mine was off, I got your's and Damian's off."

"Mine off?" I looked down at my wrist and sure enough, there was nothing there.

"Thanks," I said, returning her smile. But then something occured to me. She got it off while I was sleeping. My dream, it was real after all. I groaned.

"What dream?" Josh asked me curious.

"I'll tell you later, when everyone else is awake." I couldn't believe it. For a moment I was all cheery, my dream was just a dream, an ordinary nightmare. The next second, I learn that my nightmare is our future. _Oh joy!_ I thought sarcastically.

Adam and Damian woke up at the same time. Adam moaning as he sat up and turned to us. While Damian stood straight up, stretching.

"Wow," he said, to himself, "I'm tons better than before." Right away, Cecile shouted across the fire to him, "I got you're Devalitizer off!"

He looked surprised, "Well, that would explain why I'm feeling better. But how? I thought you..."

"I got mine off," Cecile announced to the two boys proudly, "Vladmir and Austin did it. Then I got yours and Maddy's off."

"Well then," Adam said to Damian, looking uncomfortable, "Do you think..." He trailed off.

"Do I think what?"

"Could you know..." he looked down at his purpling arm.

"Oh, of course. Here."

Adam walked over to Damian, and I watched as Damian placed his hands on Adam's arm.

Although they stood there for a while, I mean a long while, Adam was just about perfectly fine after Damian was through with him.

With the bruises gone and Adam's wrist mostly healed, he turned to Damian and said a whole hearted thanks. Damian just shrugged as if it were nothing, "No problem."

Then Vladmir and Austin appeared from behind the trees.

"So, everyone ready to go?" Vladmir asked, seeing that we were all awake.

Nodding, I stood up with Cecile and Josh by my side.

"Let's put out the fire," Vladmir said, already striding towards the heat source.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" I couldn't help but ask, seeing that we had no water.

Just thinking this caused me to realize how parched my throat was. I was really thirsty. How long can someone live without water? Then thinking about water led me to think about hunger and how empty my stomach felt.

Vladmir looked at me, "That is a good question," he said.

We ended up throwing dirt and rocks on top of the fire and eventually it went out, taking away the warmth as well.

"That's it then," Vladmir said, as the last of the fire died down, "Let's go."

He led the way further into the forest and the rest of us fell in line behind him.

Sunlight was streaming in through the branches above us, and the trees cast shadows onto the brown ground.

Next to me, Cecile was singing a song quietly to herself and Adam and Josh were having a heated discussion about who knows what. I caught the words "ball" and "running" so I figured it was something about sports. Behind me, Damian was helping Austin our with his hurting shoulder, both hands placed on it. And in front of me, Vladmir was walking by himself.

I broke into a small jog to catch up to Vladmir. He looked at me as I fell into step beside him.

"How are your wife and baby?" I asked him.

A smile broke out on his face. "There doing fine. I got them into hiding with help from Jayden."

"That's good," then I went on to more pressing matters. "Listen," I paused and looked down at my feet, "Last night, I saw us caught. Captured by some crazy people who wanted to sell us. They were going to sell us!"

He looked at me worried and curious, "What else can you tell me?"

"Well, we were knocked out and tied up in a forest at night time. There were about twenty people who came out of a huge brown tent. One man's name is Greg," my forehead wrinkled as I tried to remember more. "Another man, he was the one who talked, wore a brown t-shirt and jeans. They were all laughing, saying we would fetch a high price."

"And all of us were there? Me, you, Austin, Josh, Adam, Cecile, and Damain?"

I nodded, "All unconscious and tied up."

"Then we better get out of the forest and into civilization." He looked behind him and said to the others, "Come on, let's pick up the pace."

"And, Vladmir? One more thing. When can we eat?"

"Soon," he said, "Let's hope to get out of here soon." And with that, his strides grew bigger and I fell back to the others, sticking my hands in my pockets.

"Hey," I said, remembering suddenly, "I've got money in my pocket." I pulled out a hundred and fifty dollars. "And a cell phone."

I thought back to when Cecile and I were in that hotel, running from my sleeping parents. I took these from my mother's pocket book.

Everyone stopped immediately and their heads turned toward me, eyes staring.

"Money and a phone?" Damian questioned.

"Yeah, I took them from my mom's purse."

"Your mom's purse?" Austin came over and snatched the phone from my hand. "We've got to get rid of this," he said, examining the phone.

"What do you mean?" I said confused. "Adam has a cell phone on him too."

Damian looked from me to Adam, "We've had phones with us this whole time?" he exclaimed.

"Well," Austin said to me, ignoring Damian, "Your parents, unlike Adam's, are under Osiris's control."

"So?" I said in a small voice, not wanting to think of them like that.

"So," he said dragging out the word, "They could trace the phone and find us."

"But-" I said, trying to think up an argument. For some reason, the phone gave me comfort. It was a life line, with just a few pushes of buttons, I  
could call anyone.

"Austin's right, Maddy," Vladmir said, sighing. "We've got to ditch the phone. And Adam," he said, turning to Adam, "You better get rid of your phone too."

Adam reluctantly pulled out his cell phone. It was all battered up and cracked. "Doesn't work anymore, anyway. Got destroyed in that fight."  
He held out his phone, "What should I do with it?"

"Just drop it in the bushes, make sure it's not seen."

"But that's lit..." _Littering_, I finished the sentence in my head, closing my mouth when I received looks from the others.

Adam walked over to a large green bush and dropped the cell phone in it.

Austin walked over next to him, and after fiddling with the phone for a bit, trying to take it apart, he dropped it in the bush as well.

"I'm keeping the money though," I said, clutching the bills in my left hand.

"We're going to need that if we want to eat," Vladmir said, turning forward again, continuing to walk.

I took one last look at the others and then stared at my feet like they were the most interesting thing in the world, and began walking again, one foot in front of the other.

**Thanks for reading... if anyone actually did. I'm getting a bit depressed here.  
**


	27. Chapter 26

In front of me stood a large city. The windows of the many buildings lit up the cold night and millions of cars sped by. An odor filled the air and a inhaled it through my nose. Hamburgers, my stomach growled.

Looking around, I saw right across the street in front of me, was a restaurant. In big red letters, there was a sign that said, "Jimmy's Burgers."  
I smiled, _Finally, food_.

"Let's go there," I said, pointing to Jimmy's Burgers.

With a quick agreement from everybody, we crossed the street and entered the restaurant.

The scent of burgers struck me stronger this time as I pulled open the door, leading the way in.

"A table for seven please," I said to the waitress, who stood waiting just inside. She was fairly pretty with big, chocolate brown eyes and light brown hair that fell onto her shoulders. She wore a black dress that had the "Jimmy's Burgers" logo across the chest, and a name tag that read, "Miranda."

She looked at us curiously, her eyes traveling from each of us and resting on our feet.

We must look terrible, I thought, gazing around at all of us like she was. Our clothes were all wrinkled and dirty, and was sure if there wasn't such a strong smell of burgers, the waitress would be able to smell how disgusting we were. Not to mention my hair and our bare feet. I absently stroked my fingers through my hair, trying to fix it up from its horrifying mess.

"Um," she said hesitating, "You can't eat here without shoes."

"Seriously?" I whined, as my stomach growled for the umpteenth time. I couldn't help but think of that darn place with it's white floors. _Taking off our shoes so we could infiltrate that base cost us a meal! I mean, come on! We're trying to save the world here._

"It's a state law, can't eat in a restaurant without shoes," the waitress said sternly, breaking my angry thoughts about stupid laws.

"Can you make an exception?" I was desperate for those burgers, "Please?" I added, my mouth watering.

She shook her head, "No, sorry."

I looked at the others and saw my disappointment reflected plainly in their faces as well.

"Could we take an order out?" Damian said.

The waitress began to look annoyed, "We don't do take outs. I think you'll have to leave." When we didn't move, she added rather fiercely, "Now!"

She extended her hands out as if she was going to literally push us out of the restaurant, but then thought better of it, probably not wanting to touch us and our filthy clothes.

I turned on my heel and followed the others out of Jimmy's Burgers, utterly mad at that girl for coming between my starving stomach and some greasy hamburgers.

"Probably taste rotten, anyway," I muttered, trying to let my anger out.

"Now where?" Cecile asked, looking around the city. "I'm sure there's some restaurant that will let us in without shoes."

"It's a law, Cecile. A law," Vladmir told her, searching the city himself for some other food source.

"Well, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to buy shoes. I mean, my feet kind of hurt. Concrete's not all that nice to walk and I've already got scratches and aches from stepping on all those roots and sticks back in the woods," Adam said, watching our expressions carefully.

"We only have a hundred and fifty dollars. How much do shoes cost? Twenty dollars? Thirty? We don't have enough to buy," I did a quick count of how many pairs of bare feet were in front of me, "Four pairs of shoes and food."

"It is possible. We'd have about fifty dollars left for food," Josh piped up, looking at his brother's dirty feet.

"I don't think fifty dollars will cover us all," Austin said.

"So, now where?" Cecile repeated.

The question hung in the city air as we all stood there in the cold on the gray sidewalk.

Then a thought zoomed into my hungry head, "Can we go to a supermarket?" I asked.

"No," Vladmir sighed, "The same law applies there too."

"Ugh," I shouted in frustration. "How can we sneak into an enemy's base and escape alive, but we can't get food that's sitting there right in front of our noses!"

"Maddy," Vladmir said, looking around at the people around us nervously. "It's best not to shout those things to the world."

I took a look around me, at the other people on the sidewalk. There were small children holding hands with their mothers, business men in suits, and couples, with their arms wrapped around each other. The ones in the nearest of our vicinity stopped and were looking at me curiously.  
I felt my cheeks grow red with embarrassment.

"How about Burger King?" Damian said suddenly.

"That's still a restaurant," Vladmir said, turning his attention to the fourteen year old boy.

Damian shook his head, "No, I mean we could do the drive through and never step a foot into the actual building."

"But we don't have a car," Cecile said, pointing out the obvious.

"Oh," Damian's voice faltered with disappointment.

"I guess we go buy shoes then. We don't have much of a choice," Austin said, taking a step forward.

"Wait," Vladmir said, grabbing Austin's shoulder, keeping him rooted. "How about you four go get shoes and we'll get food for us from the supermarket. We'll meet back here."

"Why doesn't one of us just go into the supermarket and buy food for everyone." Damian said, "I mean, that's the most reasonable thing. I don't know why we didn't think of it earlier."

"Now, that sounds like a plan," Vladmir said, smiling.

"But," Cecile said, "My feet hurt, I'd like some shoes."

I looked at her, nodding in agreement, "My feet ache too."

Vladmir sighed, "Okay then, take some money, and you four," he motioned to me, Adam, Cecile, and Austin, "will go off and buy shoes. Damian, Josh, and I will buy us all some warm food."

I nodded in agreement, wanting to get moving again, "Let's go."

Austin looked hesitant, "I'd rather not..." his voice trailed off, but the unsaid words were pretty clear.

_He'd rather not be separated from his brother again_, I thought, understanding, after all they've been through, what more can you expect?

"Well, what do you want to do, then?" Adam said, speaking the question that we all were wondering.

"Let's stick with the plan where one of us with shoes buys food for everyone. Then we'll all go to buy shoes with the leftover money." Vladmir said.

There was a murmer of "okay" throughout the seven of us and we turned down the sidewalk to begin walking again.

I glanced at Cecile, who had her head hung low, staring at he feet.

"I'll carry you if you want," I offered.

She looked up at me, "I'm alright."

With every step my feet hit the ground, I realized how painful this concrete actually was. With millions of small, teeny pebbles digging into the soles of my feet, my thoughts quickly changed from thinking of how hungry and thirsty I was to thinking how painful walking was and when this torture would be over.

"Hey," Josh said, after about three minutes of hurtful walking, "How about we get something from that stand over there." His small hand pointed toward a man selling hotdogs.

I noticed the hotdog smell in the air, and became unable to resist.

"Let's go, hotdogs are perfect," I said, lengthening my stride.

Reaching the hotdog vendor, I said to him, "Could we have seven hot dogs with ketchup, please?"

"I like mustard," Cecile spoke up.

"Mustard?" I questioned, surprised.

She nodded, "Mustard."

"Okay then," I turned back to the man, "Six hotdogs with ketchup and one with mustard."

The hotdog vedor seemed fairly old. His head was scattered with white hair and he had a white beard as well. His large belly was covered by a dirty smock, and he wore a red thick jacket and black pants.

He smiled kindly as he handed out the hotdogs to us and said, "Twelve oh-five," referring to the cost.

I handed him the money, already biting into the juicy hotdog.

Receiving the change, and stuffing it in my pocket, I walked over to where the others were by a bench, already wolfing down their hotdogs.

"These. Are. Delicious." Adam said, talking between his bites, stuffing the last of his hotdog in his mouth. "Can I have another?"

I nodded, handing him some money, "Buy us seven more, would you? And some water."

After downing four hotdogs and a bottle of water, I was all set to buy some shoes for my cold feet.

We set off again, only with full stomaches this time, and soon came across a store with large yellow letters reading "Footlocker."  
Pushing open the glass door, heated air warmed our chilled bodies, not to mention my frozen feet.

"Remember, everyone," Vladmir said, "Something cheap."

I nodded and at once broke away from the group and headed to the ladies section of footwear. Entering aisle six, I was surrounded by millions of shoes. Sneakers, high heels, sandals, and flip flops of colors and designs.

Something cheap and simple. Something durable, I told myself, as I gazed longingly at a pretty pair of black and navy shoes, costing fifty-five bucks.

Narrowing it down to two pairs of sneakers, one pair completely black with laces, the other on clearance was white and purple.

"Maddy, we're waiting on you!" I heard someone call from the other side of the aisles.

I quickly looked between my two choices. The plain old black sneakers were cheaper than the pretty white and purple ones, but I couldn't help being too girly and dismissing the white and purple ones so quickly.

I looked up as I saw Cecile clamoring to a halt next to me.

"Maddy, come on. Everyone's waiting," she said, clutching a pair of white sneakers with sparkling, light blue stars on them.

"I know," I said, looking back at the two pairs of shoes. "But which ones should I get?"

"The purple ones," Cecile said, smiling at me, "I like them."

"I do too, but they're-"

"Maddy, Cecile, come on!" an irritated shout came from behind the aisles again.

Smiling, I grabbed the white and purple shoes, and walked to the cashier with Cecile. They only cost seven dollars more. Besides, a girl needs some fashion.

Placing my shoes on the counter, next to the other three pairs, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the money.

"That will be... ninety-four dollars and twenty two cents. Credit or Cash?"

"Cash," I replied firmly, handing her the rest of our money.

She took the money and then began bagging our new shoes.

"Um, we don't need bags," I said.

"Oh, alright. Have a nice day then," she smiled and handed me the receipt and a few pennies of change.

Without so much as glancing at the receipt, I stuffed it in my pocket and put on my new shoes. They were fairly comfortable, but I wished I bought socks as well.

The seven of us left the store, four of us with new shoes.

**I know, I know... that didn't make any sense. Why didn't they just go to a hotdog vendor in the first place? Because I'm not a good thinker that's why. Believe it or not, I was getting pretty frusturated about this food dilemna. And now looking back on it, I realize how dumb it actually was. **

**Anyway... School's almost out. My last test is on Thursday - Bio Regents... Not that you care.  
**


	28. Chapter 27

**Here comes some action! And don't forget to review... please?**

"Now what?" Damian said.

"Now we keep going north and find Jayden and the others," Vladmir said. "Although it's unfortunate that we can't take a taxi, seeing that we don't have money anymore."

I looked guiltily at my shoes, Should've bought the black ones, a voice rang through my head.

"So we walk," Austin said.

"Looks like it," Vladmir said, chuckling. "I don't think many people will take in seven hitchhikers at a time.

"Just before we start, I have to go to the bathroom," I said.

"Okay, is there one in Footlocker?" Vladmir asked, looking back at the store we just left.

"I'll check," Cecile said, dashing back into the store.

Through the window glass, I saw her talk to the cashier, who shook her head.

Cecile came back out, saying "They don't have one in there, but there's one right in that restuarant," she pointed across the street.

"Great," I said, "I'll be fast."

Looking both ways, before I sprinted across the street, I came to the restaurant and pulled open the heavy door.

It was pretty loud in there, with many couples and families eating out. Looking around, I saw a restroom sign and followed it to a door that had what I liked to call the universal ladies' bathroom sign on it: A stick figure in a dress.

I pulled open the door, just as someone else was pushing it open "Sorry," I said, stepping to the side, letting the woman who pushed the door by.  
Then I literally jumped, as I took a look at that woman's face.

Brown hair, high cheek bones, wearing a green bouse and a black pants. Her red eyes pierced me as she smiled, "Maddy," she said drawling out my name.

"Mom," I whispered. I fell against the red, side wall, my breath coming short.

"Where have you been, honey? Daddy and I have been searching everywhere for you."

"No," I breathed.

"Why don't you come home with us? Jojo's very worried about you too. She wants to see you."

"No," I said again.

"Maddy. Listen to me-" she said, grabbing my arm.

"No, Mom. Please," I jerked away, out of her grip.

"Maddy, dear, we can help your friends out too. They can come with us."

"No," I took a step backwards, then another.

Bumping into someone, I turned around, "Oh, sorry."

I froze, shock coursed through me.

"Dad," I said, instantly recognizing my father.

"We're going now, Maddy," my father said in that deep voice of his.

"I can't... I have to go." I ran out of there like mad, tears streaking my face.

Running blindly across the street, it was a wonder I wasn't hit by any cars, honking there horns at me.

The others were still where I left them, talking together about something. They looked up as they saw me coming.

"What happened?" Vladmir asked once I reached them.

I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it, but looked behind me at the restaurant I'd just left.

I didn't see my red eyed parents anywhere, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Maddy," I winced, hearing my mother call my name, and whirled around to the sound.

There I stood face to face with my mother who I thought I had just escaped.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the others stiffen, and Austin made a grab for Josh's hand, pulling him close.

"Maddy," my father said sternly, walking up next to my mother, "Come with us, or-"

"Or what?" I challenged, sounding braver than I felt.

He smiled a not-my-father's smile, and remained silent.

"Austin," I heard Josh whisper, "Let's get out of here. I don't like them. Their minds..." he shook his head slowly, trailing off.

I turned my back on my parents and led the others away from them.

"We don't want to do this, Maddy," my mom called from behind us.

I kept my eyes trained forward and concentrated on walking. Right foot, left foot, right, left, right, left.

Suddenly I heard a rush of air behind me, and pounding footsteps.

I glanced over my shoulder warily. My eyes widened and my mouth became dry. Behind us, were five men, running at us with inhuman speed. They were charging at us, super fast, while behind them stood my parents, watching the whole thing.

"Run," Austin said, also realizing what was happening.

We ran. We barely ran a block before the men caught up with us.

"You can't outrun us," one of the men called from behind us, as we came to an intersection with cars.

I stumbled to a halt, as the others around me did the same, and turned around, facing the men.

The five men stopped and were within five feet of me, not breathing hard at all. One tall man had dark hair, and dark eyes as well. Another two had brown hair, one with brown eyes and one with blue and a short beard. The fourth man was short and had blonde hair and light eyes. And the last man, had a muscular structure, brown hair, and as I looked closer, I noticed he had red eyes.

Red eyes, Osiris's doing.

All of them were wearing similar dark clothes, so they blended in well with the dark night, and they were grinning unsettling at us.

"You have no where to go," the blonde haired man said.

I looked behind us, and saw cars zooming by. Across the road, was a small building and behind that, the forest.

_We could lose them in there_, I thought, _Only problem is, how do we get there?_

I turned my gaze back to the men, just in time to see a punch headed my way.

I quickly ducked, letting out a small yelp.

Right away, Vladmir stepped forward, handing out his own punch. His fist made contact with air, missing the man completely as he avoided the blow with speed.

"Watch out!" I yelled as a man snuck up on Cecile. He punched her in the back and she fell forward to her knees with a high pitched screech.

I ran to her, and helped her up as she leaned on me. Looking around, I saw this fight wasn't going too well for us. Adam and Damian were both trying to deliver kicks and punches to the men, but they were too fast and kept dodging everything, and hitting the boys back. Vladmir had knocked out one man and was dueling another two. Josh was cowering behind Austin, who was biting his lip, unsure of what to do. As far as I could tell, he wasn't doing much damage.

Just then, I heard a loud high pitched beeping, and I looked towards the road, where the noise came from. There I saw the green light of a person, signaling that it was safe to cross the street.

I pulled Cecile along, running across the street. Seeing where I was headed, Adam and Damian ran off as well.

"Go!" I heard Austin yell to Vladmir, with Josh still beside him, as they themselves were already heading across the street.

Vladmir looked up and with a curt nod, he took a step back from his fight.

Then, all five of the men were hit by an invisible force and were knocked off their feet.

I waited on the other side of the road for the three of them to catch up with us, then made a a mad dash into the woods. I didn't need to look behind me to know that those five men were on our tail again.

We ran into the dark forest, where crickets were sounding loudly. My breath was coming in ragged patterns, and my legs were tiring.

We didn't get farther than a few yards when Adam slowed down and said, "Hold on a sec. I have an idea."

He turned around and stared a while at the trees by the edge of the forest.

The men were running still, but they were having a bit of trouble crossing the street, even with their super human speed.

Suddenly, the trees began to move, their branches crowding closer and closer to each other, creating some sort of barrier and blocking out the men.

"Alright, let's go," Adam said turning back to us.

What Adam didn't realize was that the trees not only blocked out the men, but also the lights from the city. The forest was pitch black, and the farther we traveled blindly through it, the darker it got.

Cecile limped by my side, her hand clutching her back, until Damian realized she was in pain and came over to help. Still walking next to the small girl, the forest was becoming very silent and still.

"So," I said, after the initial shock of escaping once again wore off, "What's the new plan?"

"Same as the old one," Vladmir replied, "Keep traveling north, 'til we run into Jayden and the others."

"And how do you know we're still on track?"

"I don't. Let's just pray we're going the right way and we'll run into someone."

I let it fall at that and we lapsed into silence once again.

At one point, Austin had picked up Josh and was carring him and Vladmir had picked up a tired Cecile. I was beginning to feel jealous, wanting to sleep myself as my eyes began slipping shut, and I struggled to keep them open. My legs moved mechanically, and I unconsciously avoided trees, following the others.

I would have fallen asleep right then and there if Austin didn't say quite loudly, "Did you hear that?"

We all stopped, and looked around, which of course was pointless because we couldn't see anything anyway.

"I didn't hear anything," Damian said.

"Listen," Austin said.

Then I heard it, a rustling noise. An animal crawling through the bushes. A rather large animal, I thought, as I heard it again, this time louder.

"An animal?" I suggested.

"No, not an animal. It's a-"

But at that moment there was a loud thud, and Austin fell unconscious to the forest floor.

Beside me, Adam fell too, hitting the ground face down.

Immediately, my sleepy state disappeared and my adrenaline kicked in. I looked frantically around for who was knocking out the others, but my eyes met nothing except darkness.

"Maddy!" Vladmir called my name, and I looked in his direction. "Your dream, remember? Get out of he-" and then he too fell to the ground, unconscious.

All at once, it came rushing back to me. My dream. We were knocked out and our hands were bound. They were going to sell us. There was-  
There was a sudden sharp pain in my head and then everything went black.


	29. Chapter 28

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the dull pain in my head. I smelled the fresh air and felt the cold breeze. Then my eyes flew open.  
Looking around, I noticed that I was still in the forest and I judged that it was sometime in the afternoon. There was a huge brown tent camouflaging in with the trees. My hands were bound together with some thick rope, with a Devalitizer on my left wrists and I was shivering slightly from the cold.

I shifted uncomfortably and tried to get a look at the others. Most of them were awake already. Only the youngest two, Cecile and Joshua were still unconscious. Next to me was Damian who was staring at the blue sky and canopy of trees. On my other side was Vladmir who, like Damian, was also looking up. On the other side of Vladmir was Austin, who was unsuccessfully trying to rip the rope off his wrists, and causing them to shed blood. Adam was next to Austin, glaring with hatred at the brown tent. At first, I tried to get my hands unbound, but after a few failed attempts, I gave up and stared off into the sky.

The thought kept popping into my head of _why aren't we out of here yet? There's nobody here, let's just take off._ But seeing as nobody else was doing anything, and that they've been awake longer than I have, meaning they've had more time to escape, I kept that thought to myself.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally woke up," a voice drawled, as a man walked over to us.

I jerked my head up and propped my self up somewhat uncomfortably on my elbows. I took a good look at the man. _Yup_, I thought, grimly, _he's the same one in my dream_. With a brown t-shirt and dark jeans, he loomed over us, his dark eyes piercing. His light brown hair curled in locks as he stared us down, smiling unfriendly.

Something caught my eye, glinting in the sun by my foot, and I realized why we weren't out of here. My foot was chained to a hook in the ground.

I glanced down at the others feet and saw the same thing.

"What do you want from us?" Damain said, bringing me back to the situation with the man in front of us.

"A man has to run a business doesn't he?" the man said.

"Not one like this," Austin said, "Let us go."

"Yeah, let us go," came Cecile's small voice, as she had just woken up.

"Chase was right, we should have gagged you and your loud mouths." the man said. "But we won't hesitate to gag you if you speak out of turn,"  
then he added darkly, "And gagging isn't the only thing we won't hesitate to do."

Another man appeared next to the first, this one seemed a lot more serious than the other. He had dirty blond hair, cut short, and blue eyes. His tall structure made the other man seem small.

This man turned to the other, "Everything's ready," he said, then walked away, back to the tent from which he came from.

The brown haired man faced us again, "Hear that? It's time to get a move on." He bent down and moved to each of us, releasing our feet from the shackles one at a time.

For a quick moment, when my foot was unbound, I debated whether I should make a break for the woods and run. But it didn't matter because just then, someone behind me grabbed my shoulders with strong, rough hands and pulled me to my feet.

I stumbled at first, my head still pounding slightly, but the someone behind me tightened their hold and pulled me straight up and steady.  
Around me, the others were being yanked to their feet as well, poor Josh having woken up when a big, burly man jerked him up. None of them were resisting, but rather cooperating with the men holding them. I wondered if they'd made a plan while I was still knocked out and this was part of it. The other option, would be that they all gave up, and were defeated. But I pushed that thought away, _We're stronger than that, they're just waiting for the right time to act._

I let myself be pushed along as we made some sort of group parading through the forest to who knows where. The seven of us were all accompanied by another man who kept us walking forward. In the very front of the group was the man from before who made the snide comment about the gags and a woman I didn't recognize.

She was wearing a long sleeved, dark blue dress that fell to her ankles and shiny, black shoes covered her feet. Her long golden hair hung loosely past her shoulders, and she walked with a sense of authority.

The two of them were talking to each other in hushed voices.

"The healer for about eight hundred dollars," I heard the man say as the woman said back, "Yes, and the little metalmolder for five hundred."

I felt like we were back in the early 1800s, and were being sold as slaves.

"Ahh," I gasped, as I tripped over a root that stuck up on the earthy floor. I fell forward, the man behind me still holding my shoulders, stumbled into me. With my bound hands, I tried to break the fall, throwing them down.

The impact hurt, and I let out another yelp, then with momentum I rolled over onto my back.

Looking up, my eyes met the surprised light ones of the man who was until recently clutching me. He was falling forward on top of me, my fall must have jerked him forward as well.

I feared the moment he would collide into me, with his large, burly structure. I tried to roll to the side, but knew I didn't have enough time; he was right above me. I scrunched my eyes so I only saw him through tiny slits, and waited for the pounding of his body against mine, hoping, praying, that he would have enough sense to put his hands out to break the fall and not crush me. But the blow never came.

I saw him fall on top of me and felt nothing. No, scratch that, I saw him fall through me, and felt nothing. Then a second later, he disappeared. Vanished into thick air. Poof.

My eyes widened in shock, and I lifted my head searching for the others.

I saw six frozen faces, staring at me. Adam with his eyebrows raised in surprise, Damian and Cecile with identical gaping mouths, Josh looking frustrated, probably because he couldn't read the others minds, Vladmir staring at me in confusion with widened eyes, and I could practically hear all the thoughts buzzing through Austin's head as he tried to process what had just happened.

The six remaining men who were holding the others, stopped and a look of uncertainty crossed their faces, not sure what they should do.  
And up front, I heard the man and woman stop talking. Their footsteps stopped as well, and I craned my neck to see their expressions. Both of them had similar looks of horror plastered on their faces, as they turned around to see what had happened. The woman was the first to recover, her blue eyes turning hard, her expression becoming serious.

A second later, a man appeared right in front of me, literally appearing out of nowhere, and pulled me harshly to my feet again.

My mind became a jumble of thoughts and crazy exclamations that I kept to myself, as my unwavering gaze focused on the newly appeared man.

"Illusions," I heard the word muttered behind me and turned.

I saw Vladmir and Austin lock gazes, communicating with they're eyes. Then, simultaneously, they both jerked free of their holder's grip and threw awkward punches at the men, since their wrists were still bound.

Instantly, the woman angrily shrieked, "No!"

I broke off from the man who was holding me and with my tied hands, I threw my own punch at him. I wasn't sure what to expect. After all, I was punching someone who wasn't really there, an illusion.

At first, my fists made contact with what actually felt like a human being, but almost immediately after, I felt my fists fly through the man.

There was a weird feeling as my arm rested there inside the illusion man for a moment. Where he was, felt like watery air. Neither a solid nor a gas. Then the man disappeared and my arm was back in pure air again.

I blinked, once, twice. Then whirled around. The other illusions of the six men were gone. The blonde lady stared at us with a fixed look of horror on her face. Then she spun on her heel and ran, her blue dress fluttering behind her.

Her partner the man, looked confused at first, unsure of what to do. Then he too turned around and ran, not looking back.  
In silence we watched them disappear behind the trees.

"So, uh, what exactly was that about?" I asked, still a bit shocked.

"Those two were Illars," Vladmir spoke, "They'll catch any Validians and sell them, most likely to Osiris. I hear he pays well," he added with a chuckle.

"And the other men?"

"They were illusions created by one of them, probably the woman."

"How come they felt real? Until, you know..." _Until they didn't_, I was about to say, but held off because that sounded a bit lame.

"The woman's talent probably wasn't so developed. After that man fell on you, she didn't have enough control to keep him physical, so he disappeared."

"Then they got scared and ran off."

"And we're left with these devilish things on our wrists again," Damian said angrily, tugging at the Devalitizer.

**That's it for now. **


End file.
